'Monuments' woo crowd with metallic melodies at ShiRock
Source: Chronicle News Service / R Lester Makang

Ukhrul, May 29 2022: There was exhilaration but it apparently took a few unremittingly heavy songs for the crowd to clue themselves in on the tone of the atmosphere.

Not surprisingly, Monuments and their metallic tunes needed a brief exordium of its own, despite the British quartet being around on the progressive metal core scene since 2007 .

So, it was kind of 'Gosh' for the majority of the 20,000-strong crowd when Monuments front man Andy Cizek opened up their show with a heart-thumping metal number at the ShiRock 2022 on Saturday.

Blame it on the sound system or the band's genre (being a progressive metal-core), but the lyrics were hardly audible throughout the proceedings and so were most of the song titles.

There was hardly anyone from the crowd who could hum along with Andy Cizek.

Even then, the band managed to keep the crowd jumping and roaring with excitement as heavy guitar riffs and pounding drums filled their music.

The metal band performed as the headliner of the musical festival on the closing day at the Bakshi Ground in Ukhrul town.

However, bassist Adam Swan was reportedly sick and could not join his band mates Andy Cizek, guitarist John Browne and drummer Mike Malyan for their performance.

What also intrigued most of the music lovers who thronged the venue was the mystic soundscapes (probably its trademark sound developed by the band) that literally surrounded the audience even when the band was not performing on the stage.

Monuments performed their singles like Cardinal Red, Deadnest, False Providence and other numbers taken from studio albums Gnosis, The Amanuensis, Phronesis and In Stasis.

Prior to Monuments headlining the night, the results of the annual ShiRock band competition were announced.

The Prophets, a rock band from Mizoram was declared the winner of the competition and the band walked away with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.

The winning band opened the night's musical proceedings for Monuments.

Symphonic Illusion from Meghalaya and 1BHK from Manipur were adjudged the first and second runners-up and were awarded with cash prizes of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2.5 lakh respectively.

Six individual prizes carrying Rs 25,000 each went to Suresh Chingkheimayum (Variation 4) for Best Vocal; Jaye Haokip (Echoes of Mercy) for Best Bassist; Donald Pheipi (Variation 4) for Best Guitarist; Raegan Yumnam (Terra Progeny) for Best Drummer; Samuel (The Prophets) for best keyboardist and Symphonic Illusion for Best Stage Act.

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