Monsters is the third studio album by Empathy Test, self-released by the band in May 2020 via a crowd funder, during the Covid-19 pandemic. The crowd funder, which had a goal of £4,000, ended 696.85% funded and raised a total of £27,874. The album includes the tracks Holy Rivers and Incubation Song which were released as a single in 2018, and Empty Handed, a single from 2019. These tracks were remixed with then live drummer Christina "Chrisy" Lopez's live drums to fit the vibe of the rest of the album, which led with the new title track, Monsters.

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Cast and crew

 

Monsters (the track) was co-written with Chrisy and new keyboard player Oliver Marson in a sound check while on tour in Germany in 2019. The empty venue thundered with Chrisy's stadium-sized beat and Oliver's catchy organic analogue synth riff, inspiring producer Adam Relf to make the resultant iPhone-recorded demo the inspiration for sound of the entire record. The rest of the songs were written by Isaac Howlett and Adam Relf with Oliver Marson writing his synth parts on Making Worlds, Skin and Love Moves. As usual, all lyrics were written by Isaac Howlett, with the exception of Making Worlds which was partly written by Adam Relf. Adam Relf did the album artwork, as well as the mixing and mastering.

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Formats

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The album was originally released in digital, Digipak CD and signed 12" black vinyl formats. The 300 signed black vinyl editions sold out before the album was released, as did the second pressing of 300 x red vinyl. The band went on to release another run of 300 neon green vinyl, before releasing a final edition of 500 on clear vinyl with a red splatter.

 

The original run of 1000 digipak CDs sold out within the year, and the band produced a second run of 500 expanded Digipak CDs, with the missing Empty Handed b-side A River Loves A Stone and remixes from the previously released Holy Rivers/Incubation Song and Empty Handed/A River Loves A Stone CD singles. These extra tracks were augmented with exclusive remixes of Love Moves by SONO and KANGA which were commissioned for a single release of Love Moves which never came to fruition.

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Reception

 

The album was well received by fans and critics alike, receiving an 8/10 from the UK's XS Noize and Germany's Sideline, an 8.5/10 review from Germany's Monkey Press, a 9/10 from Sweden's Hymn, Brutal Resonance and Release magazines, Ukraine's Ukrainian Gothic Portal and Czech Republic's Sanctuary. The album also appeared in best album of the year lists from Sounds And Shadows (USA), The Electricty Club (UK), The Periodic Table of Synthpop.

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Press quotes [Click here for more]

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"Empathy Test has once again hit the mark and rocketed beyond it. [They] have tapped into a world brimming with tension and isolation to strike a chord with beauty." - Sounds And Shadows

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“Monsters sounds absolutely enormous. Driven by thundering drums and layers of clean, analogue synths, the band somehow sounds both thrillingly expansive and unnervingly claustrophobic." - PopMatters

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"With a bone-crunching pounding beat greater than a world class surfing beach, arctic synth riffs and celestial choruses ‘Monsters’ is big in every way. Redolent of eighties synth greats like Depeche Mode [...] or Gary Numan, there is such a stadium filling vibe it would be criminal if this band didn’t go on to fulfil this destiny." - Backseat Mafia

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"...one of their most addictive to date, drawing in dark analogue synths in a spiky electronic soundscape of thunderous percussion, pulsating beat, and lyrics which deal with the modern day curse of anxiety and loneliness, something which is perhaps even more insightful in these current times." - Little Indie Blog

 

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