Track By Tracks: Next Monarch - Black Animals Of Cosmos (2024)

1. Next Monarch:

Our fastest song, and probably the one we put the most time into making. I feel obligated to mention that the inspiration here comes from a chiptune I heard while installing software of questionable legality, many years ago. I heard a melody and thought it would sound great with fast metal guitars in the background. We like our compositions to have a structure of a song, but with a little twist, so we wrote this one with 2-part verses and a solo in the middle. Lyrically, it's sort of an anthem of ours.

2. Black animals of cosmos:

As with many songs, the idea for that one appeared while working on another song. We wrote a riff that didn't quite fit the song we were currently working on but would do well on its own. We like to give bass more attention and bring it out in production. That song felt like a good opportunity for the bass to play the melody in the verse.

3. Under the sun:

There was a song we wrote and recorded back in 2007 - different band, different name. Anyway, we liked the theme melody a lot and wanted to record a remake that would fit our current play style. The song went through many revisions, and we were really close to dropping it a few times. At some point, we even hired some session musicians to record solos on violin and saxophone but eventually removed them for the sake of consistency.

4. Punk is dead:

It's a provocative title that doesn't have to do anything with the lyrics. I think this song encapsulates a lot of our punk rock inspirations, with specific riffs or ideas deriving from The Offspring and Bad Religion. Lyrically it's perhaps our most direct track so far. The song speaks about the growing polarization of society; a need and feeling of being entitled to express one's beliefs; being drawn into ideological trends.

5. The one with no title:

I always wanted the lyrics to be bold and clear, but this time I wanted them even bolder and clearer. I spent a few days walking my dogs and thinking of the most insolent, yet classy lines for this track. We always give a solo guitar a lot of space to shine, but this time it overtook the track, with solos in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. Vocally I like to combine lower and higher screams, and we had a good opportunity to do it here.