recommending music until i stop, day 5.5: We Are The Foundation EP by Monuments

I'm back pretty early, aren't I? I believe I've posted this EP before, but this time I'll give the lore drop and analysis.

Greg Pope and Neema Askari were a set of vocalists on Monuments that joined after Fellsilent (pre Monuments + TesseracT) fell apart. Neema was on Fellsilent, but Greg was new. This is mostly irrelevant though, as when Monuments released this EP and opened a live show for Periphery with this lineup, it was clear just how well their voices worked together, and how well their (albeit unique) vocals fit over the music. Getting into rumor and/or I'm not sure territory here, but they were both under the belief that Monuments was over, so they "left" the band. Clearly the band wasn't actually done, and they picked up another vocalist (Matt Rose). This led to a song being cut (Memoirs) which they actually tried releasing, but Neema and/or Greg threatened legal action due to the iconic chorus. So, we got Gnosis, with completely re-worked vocals, and Greg and Neema were nowhere to be found.

So where does that leave this EP? Well, it was only released on myspace, so the compression and mixing is kind of raw garbage. Not even good raw, if it wasn't this good I would not be listening to it. But it IS that good. It's catchy, the vocal style is unique and executed well, the riffs are Gnosis riffs so they're good. What's bittersweet about this EP is, this is what Gnosis could have been. This music with Gnosis mixing would have been an amazing debut album, rivaling The Amanuensis. Instead, most people prefer the instrumental version of the album, and rank it lower, if not the lowest, out of all of the Monuments albums.

Before I leave yet again (no I'm not listing singles it's only three songs), I want to discuss lyrical themes. They sound left-wing and political, something that did happen on Gnosis (a bit more vaguely), but just completely died after that.

Like, this is explicitly anti-capitalist. When I heard this I went nuts. Gnosis was vague, but this was much better, especially lines like "Refuse the system because the system will re-use you" and even just "We Are The Foundation".

This one is sadder to me, because it hits close to home. I thought I knew it all, thought I knew what actually had to be done to help people. Then I learned how the world really works, how things are done intentionally with the knowledge that people are hurt and exploited. Even if we manage to fix a world that's actively decaying, what of the souls lost along the way? What of the souls who we lose every day to the system, the cycle? When will enough people see past the brainwashing, the propaganda, and realize these things, that money is irrelevant, that their worldview is likely built on lies?

Something else lost with Greg and Neema was songwriting. The themes were good, the lyrics themselves were good, just everything about this EP and this band had so much potential, not just to be a good band, but to spread a message. That didn't happen, though. So I'll sit here, still listening to this EP, thinking of what could have been, while appreciating what happened. Gnosis is still a great album, as are The Amanuensis, In Stasis, and Phronesis (except for lyrics on Phronesis, they're really bad). Enjoy this EP, it's quite the gem, even if the mixing is mid.