Following Live at Freak Valley in 2017 and their latest album, Sphere (2019), instrumental psych rock frontrunners Monkey3 will herald 2024 with a true album highlight of the new year: The Lausanne-based four-piece has announced a brand new, cosmic studio offering, entitled Welcome To The Machine, set for release on February 23 via Napalm Records.
Once again, Monkey3 envelops listeners in their unique, cosmic auditory haze. Welcome To The Machine not only marks their seventh and most epic, dark and captivating record to date, but will also clearly prove why they are one of the most exciting instrumental rock bands in the modern stoner and psychedelic rock scene.
Today, Monkey3 has premiered a music video for their first album single "Rackman”. "Welcome To The Machine is a reflection on the future of humanity through the duality of man and machine,“ the band explains. About the new single, they comment: "Are human beings becoming machines or machines becoming human beings?"
Watch the visualizer for “Rackman” below.
Welcome To The Machine’s musical themes are inspired by movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, Sunshine, Solaris and 1984, while unveiling an intense mankind vs. machines story that instantly launches the listener into deep space. Right from its first tones, the album immediately emerges as a perfect soundtrack to a journey into the unknown. Tracks such as "Rackman" perfectly showcase how Monkey3, who formed in 2001, are one of only a few instrumental bands that know how to tell an enthralling story. Welcome To The Machine explores as much as it poses questions. It is dark and menacing; evoking melancholic destruction while somehow bursting with hope at the same time, moving between haunting passages and progressive breaks, mesmerizing grooves and colossal riffs.
The album was recorded and mixed by Raphaël Bovey at Blend Studio and MyRoom Studio, and was mastered by Lad Agabekov at Caduceus Studios in Switzerland. The incredible cover artwork was created by Sebastian Jerke.
Welcome To The Machine will be available in the following formats:
- Digipak
- 1 Vinyl Gatefold Black
- 1 Vinyl Gatefold Clear Orange
- 1-Vinyl Gatefold Crystal Clear Deluxe Version (incl. Slipmat & Art Print )
- Digital
Pre-order here.
Welcome To The Machine tracklisting:
"Ignition"
"Collision"
"Kali Yuga"
"Rackman"
"Collapse"
"Rackman" visualizer:
Monkey3 is:
Walter - Drums
Jalil - Bass
Boris - Guitars
dB - Keys and Sounds
(Photo - Giuseppe Aufiero)
