Names are getting crazier. Seriously. I do love some band names though. What was the last I’ve heard…‘We Came With Broken Teeth’, ‘Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza’ and the almighty ‘Destroyer Destroyer’ (most genius band name I’ve heard this year). On the other hand you have some really shitty band names ‘I Suffer Inc.’ and ‘Monkeyram’. Speaking about the latter, they just released an EP. The music; a name directly popped up in my head but I will forgive you if it doesn’t ring a bell: The X Factor. A shameless Tool copy with some guitar riffs that were ok. Now before you ask yourself if ‘Monkeyram sounds like Tool?’, I will say ‘considering the riffing yes, but singing no.’. So we have that clear. Monkeyram is a combination of passionate rock that shows influences from Therapy, Mad At Gravity and a little bit of Tool-riffing (fair is fair). Although the music is brought with a great passion and some ideas come out well, I still have some doubts about this band. The singer sometimes goes way over his capabilities, and I think it’s better if he’d get more grip on his vocals. They sound a little bit instable sometimes and do not always fit the music, but on a song like ‘Mellow Dramatic’ it gets better.

But I get the idea that this vocalist isn’t really adding something, the combination with the band is not always coming out fine. The music is a combination of some staccato riffs mixed with long Tool-ish riffs (there we have that name again), mixed with some grunge influences. I have to admit the riffing is pretty cool, but could use more power here and there. They could play a riff like in ‘Adore’ longer and don’t stick too much on short songs. If a riff is good I love the repetition of it (Tool, Isis etc.). Summary: they brought it with passion but have to fix some things, maybe the singer isn’t fitting in this band and maybe they don’t know their musical direction yet, but they show some promising things with this EP. And they’re from Holland. Good bands from Holland are always welcome. I’ve heard they consider themselves as a good live band (with a blink), but go see them if you have the chance and do some support. Oh, and to Monkeyram: why this name?