Monsteriser

Monsteriser "Shortcuts to a Dead End" bio 2008

"Monsteriser sounds like Alice in Chains with Dimebag Darrell on guitar" - Soundi music monthly

Monsteriser is a four-piece from eastern Finland who call their music South Carelia Heavy Grunge. The definition is short but all the sweeter and precisely, that’s what its all about. Grinding guitars, strong melodies, rocking heavy rhythms and sleek, but not watered down production. Monsteriser are no new kids on the block, these guys have been playing in bands and making music for the past two decades. They have families and real jobs yet they are still playing heavy rock like there’s no tomorrow. Is this a wise thing for grown-ups to be doing? But why of course!

Monsteriser is fronted by music virtuoso Miitri Aaltonen (voc, guitar) who also enjoys fame as a much sought-after producer having been in the limelight with chart-topping Finnish metal acts Stam1na and Mokoma amongst others.

"The Long Snap to Zero" was Monsteriser’s debut from 2006 paying homage to their heroes in Seattle as well as the forefathers of modern metal. The new album, "Shortcuts to a Dead End", mixes all the goodness of grunge into dark guitar riffs with a solid metal ladle. Drummer Janne Hynynen sees it as a quintessentially Finnish realist approach to metal sounds that evolved far overseas. "Its Finnish grunge with a heavy sound but we traded those flannel shirts for Jussi jumpers and wiped our asses with the beanies" (Jussi jumpers are the traditional outfits of infamous knife-wielding rednecks from the Ostrobothnia region of Finland, often worn by fellow countrymen The Dudesons).

"Shortcuts to a Dead End" was recorded in Imatra, the band’s hometown in southeastern Finland, rubbing shoulders with the Russian border. And as on their album debut the producer twiddling the knobs was Miitri. "We found it worked extremely well on the first album, so why change a good thing. Plus of course we didn’t want any outsiders messing the place up", chortles Janne.

The main bulk of the album was recorded in November 2007 through to January 2008. This time songwriting duties were divided among all four band members which can be heard in the album’s more diverse output. One track is fully acoustic (A track without fuzz guitar, can it be music?, the band laugh) and all lyrical credits go to main man Miitri. His lyrics much reflect the state of the world as it is today, with a special focus on things that have gone awry.

Regarding the album title Miitri says: "When we started the project we weren’t focused on where the album was going musically. However, we wanted to stick with the heavy grunge sound but didn’t want to take the easy way out, as it were. This thought evolved into an inside joke about going under fences and through open gates that roughly translates as not taking the easy way out but just taking a way out. So that idea kind of attached itself to the title". The title also brings to mind Finns in general, who typically tend to see things in terms of Murphy’s Law - things that can go wrong will go wrong. "Yeah, we’re a bunch of sad bastards. But I think we have got it right on this album." And this they definitely have done, go and listen for yourselves.


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Monsteriser "Shortcuts to a Dead End" bio 2008

"Monsteriser sounds like Alice in Chains with Dimebag Darrell on guitar" - Soundi music monthly

Monsteriser is a four-piece from eastern Finland who call their music South Carelia Heavy Grunge. The definition is short but all the sweeter and precisely, that’s what its all about. Grinding guitars, strong melodies, rocking heavy rhythms and sleek, but not watered down production. Monsteriser are no new kids on the block, these guys have been... (read more)