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Swedish melodic hardrock/metal band Stonelake releases its 6th album and this in a period of seven years. Their 2008 album 'Uncharted Souls' and their 2011 release 'Marching On Timeless Tales' already received a nice rating on this site. To celebrate their 10th anniversary as a metal band we can now enjoy this new album 'Monolith'.

Eye catcher from the start is vocalist Peter Grundström, he sings even better than before and has a pair of very powerful lungs. From start to finish the band keeps me focused and I find this the best album I know from the band so far. The band never sounded heavier before and that is because the guitars are tuned rather low and are in front of the mix. I like this, take for example the second track "You Light the Way", the heavy riffing and the occasionally harsh vocals make this one of the heaviest Stonelake songs to date. Another track with very heavy (almost thrash) parts is "In a Freezing House", especially when the harsh vocals pass by. On the other hand, they again sound very melodic and progressive. A song like "Will You Be Loved" is blessed with very catchy singing lines, but on the other hand is very heavy too and the keys in the song are excellent.

Besides the heavy guitars, the keys also play a big role in Stonelake's music; beautiful melodies all in favor of the song. I honestly have to admit that I didn't expect such a great album. The perfect balance of heavy, melodic and progressive parts make this one of the best albums I've listened to this year.

For me this is the surprise of this month, highly recommended and I think that Masterplan fans will have no problem at all with this album.

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