Monument - Hair of the Dog

Monument are a band that are blatantly copying Iron Maiden in a rather unimaginative way with several riffs seemingly facsimiled, losing a bit of charm in the way and a singer in Peter Ellis (sic), who sounds like a reasonable facsimile of Dickinson but in B/W.
 
Playing a safe compilation of cliché riffs and rhythms, simply updating them with a modern flawless production is simply boring. Just like lots of bands of their ilk, they seem to lack identity, but at least they’re not as terrible as some of them live, just terribly boring, because of the strange sense of “Deja Vu” you get on almost each and term (pun intended on a song that nicely rips most of Invaders to even exist). I suppose the Maidenesqe pastiche of lead of single “A Bridge Too Far”, while still hugely derivative and reliant on Maiden-mannerisms is the most enjoyable of the album’s songs and wisely chosen as a single. But with the original alive and well – who’s gonna bothered to follow up a halfway decent clone of the early days? Also to get closer to the “original” go for a less perfect production… it should make you sound a lot closer.
 
I never saw with a good eye most of those derivative bands, like White Wizzard on which Ellis was a member for a single/year, Bullet, Cauldron etc… bands that seem happy regurgitating the same old shit. It takes a certain degree of talent to do that to a good standard, but if you’re up to it, why not write your own stuff that’s really your own and doesn’t utilize classic riffs or cadenzas that will make you sound like your heroes – the sort of “template” songcrafting that will probably lead you to the top of many of the retro festivals and maybe the opening slot of some bigger ones… but just there…
 
A case of Identity theft? I’m not sure… but to even perfect that, it will take several more “wasted” years…