Do-it-yourself Monsterbot

• Rhomboids, Monsterbot

Sibika’t Kultura Records, 2005’t Kultura Records, 2005

While the logical progression of a band’s career would see a climb from the DIY domain to the bosom of major label bliss, Monsterbot seems comfortable enough to frolic in indie abandon in its own terms and flourish.

Year 2002’s MCA Universal release Destroy! Destroy! put Monsterbot on the alternative music map, largely through the music video-powered single Explosive. The Monsterbot style – a manic mix of post-punk, garage rock, pop, funk, and everything in between – had won over an audience of listeners tired of the power chord sludge and Korn-spawned copycats. The Quark Henares-directed Explosive video earned a nomination at the MTV Pilipinas Awards 2002 for Best New Artist. Monsterbot was also nominated at the NU 107 Rock Awards in the same year. And for his work on Destroy! Destroy!, Raimund Marasigan won Producer of the Year honors.

But popularity is a fickle mistress. Monsterbot, along with a number of its contemporaries, slowly faded into the shadows – eased out by a new selection of musicians batting for success… the acoustic artists. Ditching the Stratocaster for a nifty acoustic seemed the most lucrative thing to do.

Nonetheless, Glenn San Antonio (vocals), Diego Mapa (guitars, vocals), Karl Claudio (bass), Carlo Navarro (keyboards) and Ryan Magsumbol (drums) bravely soldiered on. Even as the band’s contract with MCA ended, Monsterbot continued to write material. It hooked up with Ciudad’s Mikey Amistoso, who was willing to produce and record another album for the ‘Bots.

As Diego Mapa observes, Rhomboids is about Monsterbot being Monsterbot. Finding its unique niche in Pinoy music, Monsterbot capitalizes on sounding like no one but itself – even as it acknowledges influences from bands such as The Rentals, Beastie Boys, At The Drive In and The Refused.

For Monsterbot, keyboards seemingly take the burden of establishing a melody – leaving the guitar for textural purposes. The treble-heavy, distorted attack of Diego drones throughout the album – sometimes in controlled stop-and-go power chords, others in chaotic noodling. The exception is the funky I Wonder.

Opening track You’re Always Right picks up right where Destroy! Destroy! left off. Monsterbot serves notice that it’s back for more. Burning, with its buzzsaw guitars, simple keyboard melody, and downer vocals, calls to mind The Rentals. The low-fi, analog treatment of the whole album only serves to highlight the parallelism. On the other hand, one detects a hint of seminal act The Pixies in Better Days. All For This, All For Nothing is like Chokebore on caffeine.

Ex-Yano and Pan-man Dong Abay joins the fray in Epekto, trading vocal tirades a la Beastie Boys. But unlike Yano (or Beastie Boys, for that matter), Monsterbot is never about vocals over music but the other way around (at least as far as volume is concerned) – akin to a more severe version of Sandwich.

Well, you should know that the band does think about song lyrics. Glenn sings in Let’s Get Paid: "I’m tired of artistic views/can’t sleep about the bad reviews/I am just a poser/I can’t take the taser/Let’s get paid."

In Burning: "Burning your letters right now/burning your pictures today/Always thought of you/You were the sand/and I was the sea we were to be."

Monsterbot deserves praise for being able to release a cohesive effort despite its departure from the majors. Closing out the effort, Monsterbot meanders into an instrumental piece, Doodoot, indulging in the frills of DIY. But an unfettered band is a beautiful thing only if its members have a singularity of vision. Monsterbot is definitely that.

Rhomboids is a record to own – not just for die-hard Monsterbot fans but for the open-minded music lovers sick of lightweight pop and unimaginative rock.