Mono Goes Metal 2024: From the Danish underground and below

A brief glimpse into the metal grassroots of a small country, but with big potential

Back before I moved to Málaga, I used to frequent this lil' metal festival in Denmark, name of Mono Goes Metal. Program-wise, this was – and still is – a showcase of hand-picked bands from the upcoming national metal scene, but also the occasional band from one of our brethren Scandinavian nations.

The line-up was always both varied and compiled with what always seemed like a vertiable all-seing insight into the most exciting parts of a scene that always seemed bigger and more heterogenous than you'd think. So MGM was always one to look forward to. More than anything, however, I personally used it as an occasion to visit my old hometown of Aarhus from before relocating to Copenhagen and swill down a buncha coldies with my oldies.

Checking out the bands, too – sure. But just as much taking the opportunity to finally settle once and for all which one of the first four Morbid Angel albums is superior, and other relevant debates, over a buncha aforementioned coldies. (For the record, it's "Altars of Madness" ('89).)

I wasn't expecting to be here again, what with having long moved outta the country and gone digital nomad and whatnot. But with things just recently having gone to Shitsville over East, I'm back in Europe to do some rehabilitation. Might as well swing by here and catch up with old buddies and the underground metal scene.

I remember seeing Deadnate at another metal festival here in Aarhus about – holy shit – seven years ago. My impression back then was that they sounded very similar to Gojira. Which was fine.

Because A) you gotta start somewhere, B) Gojira actually has some interesting ideas among all that monotonous groove stuff, and C) because Deadnate, not the least of all, were more than capable, playing together with a tightness and all-round professionalism worthy of big stages.

This is still my impression. But they've gotten better. Playing even tighter and sounding a bit less like that one other particular band, Deadnate seems like they've been growing in the right direction. It's all still very groove-based, so I'm missing some of those riffs that used to be the backbone (see what I did there?) of this thing called heavy metal. But I'm also sensing a bit of the aggression and technicality of Meshuggah, which is cool.

Not that Deadnate is a full-blown prog band. But they don't have to be. In fact, with the level of technicality that we've long reached in metal, I'm fine with metal bands being technical without being progressive. And if anything, Deadnate are hitting a pretty sweet spot between the two. Also, since they've even begun incorporating some melodic vocals and some guitar figures resembling riffs, I wouldn't mind checking these guys out another time or two. They could go far.

Rating: 4.5 out of 6
Genre: Semi-progressive groove metal
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/07Zy0y9V0OceabwbauPomp
Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/14698795

Tonight's biggest surprise and best act is brutal death metal trio Terrorpy. Their riffs are neck-breakingly demanding and wonderfully dissonant, but rather than forcing themselves out into rollercoaster-tech-death structures, they focus on ugliness and hard-hitting intensity, playing their instruments with equal parts vulgarity and virtuosity.

I'm even hearing some black metal riffing in there. The sound is surprisingly razorblade sharp tonight; I can hear every single of supposedly thousands of drum punches and cymbal crashes, and it only accentuates the impressive tightness of the band. Even though there are only three of them, they sound like an army.

Even the bass sound is hella gnarly. In fact, especially bassist/vocalist Jonas Guldfeldt Viuff impresses with some sick tapping figures and a wonderfully deep, guttural growl, respectively. And chatting with him after the show, he seems like a hella sympathetic dude. In fact, just fucking check these guys out. If nothing else, you can't go wrong with a band that has song titles like "Corpsebreaker" and "Gorging on Pus".

Rating: 5.5 out of 6
Genre: Brutal death metal
Bandcamp: https://terrorpy.bandcamp.com/album/the-bisection-collection

Turns out I've totally seen Persecutor before, opening for local hard rock heroes I'll Be Damned earlier this year. Persecutor, however, are way too hard to be categorized as such, their fierce, jagged thrash metal compelling me to pen such words as "violent" and "militant" in my notepad.

Led by vocalist/bassist (and Anthony Kiedis lookalike) Christian Almanza, these guys fucking wail, their red-hot (heheh) energy a punishing constant during 30 minutes of pure, orchestrated ass-beating. While Almanza's vocals will not stand out amongst other raspy thrash voices through the years, they're loveably profane, sounding like a blender processing a handful of gravel, but still managing to enunciate the words. That's not a given.

Though not as complex as Terrorpy, Persecutor are at least as tight. And in these horrid Beat Detective and Autotune years, it's a life-affirming relief to hear relatively new bands who are not only able to play instruments, but who do it so precisely as is the case here. And shit, they're even adding a bunch of death metal riffing here and there. Welp, aside from the fact that there are at least six other bands called Persecutor out there, I'm convinced.

Rating: 5 out of 6
Genre: Thrash metal
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/persecutor-618057429

Sunken plays equal parts melancholic, meticulous, and mesmerizing black metal. With long, clean passages, insistingly long different song sections, and, as a result thereof, just plain long songs altogether, this is music that demands the listener's full attention and presence. But there's a reward for that.

Sure, you can hear their similarities with Danish ambient black metal colleagues Solbrud (with whom, in turn, you can hear the similarities with Wolves in the Throne Room). But Sunken seem to focus less on nature romanticism and more on those mercilessly dejected minor-key atmospheres. And it works.

Since Sunken is the last band on tonight's bill, I'm not able to give them that aforementioned full attention and presence that they deserve. Because, you know, beer. But I recognize quality when I hear it, and we're talking international class here. Whether you're into aforementioned WitTR, Agalloch, Deafheaven, or similar, you will be glad that you gave Sunken your full attention and presence.

Rating: 5 out of 6
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
Bandcamp: https://sunkendenmark.bandcamp.com/album/livslede

Tonight's joker is the young thrash metal outfit Wolfhead. They're the joker because they're not featured on tonight's line-up. But in between shows, standing outside where smoking is allowed, I end up chatting with a couple of the band members, and upon learning that I'm here by virtue of being a music journalist and all, they're eager to play some of their stuff for me. Through a phone, all the more so.

Normally, I'd think twice before forming opinions based on an impression like that. But holy shit, if this doesn't at least have as much potential as any other band at this festival. It's tight as fuck and it's aggressive as shit, channeling German giants the likes of Sodom and Destruction. I'm not even hearing very many minutes of it, what with that phone and all. But again: I do recognize quality when I hear it (sound quality not necessarily withstanding).

The artwork on the EP that they so generously give me is… yeah, you can check it out for yourself on that Bandcamp link below. And there are at least a coupla other metal bands who've already called themselves Wolfhead. But that doesn't mean these guys kick any less ass.

Rating: 5 out of 6
Genre: Thrash metal
Bandcamp: https://wolf-head.bandcamp.com/track/speed-demons

Not having kept up with the Danish metal underground as closely as I did when I lived here, I'm positively surprised by most of what I'm hearing tonight. I'm not writing about all the bands – one, for example, I find uninspiring and monotonous (it's some of that "-core" stuff). And others, I have to deprioritize in favor of those aforementioned beers, which, apart from metal, is another thing that my native nation does extremely well in spite of its relatively small size.

Like a lot of other things I revisit relatively rarely, seeing this cutesy little festival again, along with brothers and sisters I haven't caught up with for years, is a pure treat. As for those of my readers who aren't from Denmark, you should totally just check out the above-mentioned bands. If you're not a wimp and/or poser, you'll dig 'em.

Rating: 5 out of 6

Genre: Metal
Date: Sat., Nov. 16th, 2024
Location: Monorama, Aarhus, Denmark
Website: https://mono.dk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monogoesmetal/