we can’t really write a song unless we’re in front of stacks of loud amps.” The guitarist and bassist use amplifiers by Sovtek, Acoustic, Orange, Hiwatt, Sunn and Marshall plus fuzzboxes. The singer uses delay and reverb pedals. Reception After the reissue of Mer Morte, Lords Of Metal called the band a "deep black minimalistic, slow, humongous doom monster". Maelstrom called Monarch 2007 in a review of Dead Men Tell No Tales "soon-to-be doom titans", emphasizing the album to be a challenge for every doom metal fan, though "it's worth it, as Monarch! have some fantastic music". Reviewing the same album, Heathen Harvest states that it by no means bad, but calls Monarch a copycat of pioneering bands like Boris, Pelican, Isis and Khanate. German metal.de called the 2007 album Speak Of The Sea "meaningless drone tracks, which basic idea almost too obviously and thus bold was stolen from Khanate". Vampster was impressed 2010 by the album Sabbat Noir and Monarch's "undeviating path to dissolve any music into noise" and states that "neither Switchblade nor Black Shape of Nexus, Corrupted, Black Boned Angel, Nadja or Moss deliver more vehement antimusic than Monarch". Beside the band's extremism the reviewer recognized something new too: "This is what sludge is going to be, when one keeps moving along way outside drone doom, to try something different. […] The fact is neither drone nor doom can be more extreme without turning to pure noise. Monarch pay tribute to Black Sabbath also by making earth shaking music and in trying something new with a lot of courage and a portion of madness not to underrate […]". Village Voice called a New York concert in November 2010 "a focused, intense performance, utterly lacking the catharsis that's metal's usual stock-in-trade". Members Current Emilie "Eurogirl" Bresson – vocals Shiran Kaïdine – guitar MicHell Bidegain – bass Boubi Sablon – drums Stéphane Miollan – guitar Past Felix Buff Guillaume Lestage Stephane Torre-Trueba Robert Macmanus Rob Shaffer Discography Studio albums 666 (2005) Speak of the Sea (2006) Die Tonight (2007) Mer Morte (2008) Sabbat Noir (2010) Omens (2012) Sabbracadaver (2014) Never Forever (2017) EPs Swan Song (2006) A Look at Tomorrow / Mass Destruction (2009) Sortilège (2011) Sacrifice Your Parents, Satan Wants You To (2015) Splits Elysiüm / Monarch (2006) Monarch / Moss (2007) Dawn of the Catalyst (2007) Birushanah / Monarch (2017) Compilations Dead Men Tell No Tales (2007)