Monolord’s Sixth Album Tilts Toward Doom With a Death Doom Finale

Monolord’s sixth album, Neverending, pushes the Swedish trio further into doom territory. Earlier records leaned on sludge grooves and extended jams, but this one settles into a darker, more melodic headspace. The shift is immediate. Lead single “You Bastard” still carries the band’s weighty rumble, yet Thomas Jäger’s vocals float over the sinewy riff with a melancholy that’s harder to shake. The real shadows gather later, on tracks like “Inside a Collider,” which wanders deeper into a graveyard of doom.

The band’s tighter melodic focus sharpens that gloom. “Crystal Bridge” echoes the brooding tone of Katatonia, while “Oozing Wound” keeps its sludge in check with a smooth, haunted vocal line. “The Masque” throws a curveball, its chorus channelling a classic rock energy closer to Blue Öyster Cult than to Sabbath. That variety gives Neverending a shape the band hasn’t carved out so cleanly before.

The album ends with its most drastic turn. Entombed bassist Jörgen Sandström takes over vocals on the eight-and-a-half-minute title track, steering the song into death doom of the Peaceville school. It’s an unexpected guest spot, but it stays tethered to Monolord’s sound. The song twists enough to feel new, not alien. Neverending doesn’t trap itself in one subgenre, and the songwriting holds up through every shift. The result is the band’s strongest set of songs, wrapped in a gloom that feels earned.