MONO - OATH (2024)
MONO - OATH (2024)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 431 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 165 Mb | 01:11:38
Post-Rock | Label: Pelagic Records
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 431 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 165 Mb | 01:11:38
Post-Rock | Label: Pelagic Records
Veteran Japan-based instrumental rock band MONO return with ‘OATH’, their 12th full-length album of genre-defying contemporary classical orchestration and transcendental guitar soundscapes in a career that has spanned four decades.Tracklist:
“What are we doing here?” The year 2020 turned what was once quintessential late-night stoner existentialism into a daily mantra for nearly everyone on this planet. What are we doing with our limited time in this life? What is our purpose?What should we be doing?
For the past 25 years, MONO have explored themes such as the relationship between darkness and light; hope in the face of disaster; and the duality of birth and death. On their 12th full-length album, OATH, they ponder the time that makes up life, and how to make the most of that time.
Recorded and mixed with longtime friend and collaborator, Steve Albini, OATH opens like a sunrise with a slowly ascending orchestra and brass section, the full band taking its time to revel in the atmosphere before joining in the splendor. Throughout the album’s 71-minute runtime, MONO meditates on that theme of time and life in myriad ways. The unhurried evolution of a song that is a hallmark of MONO’s catalog is infused with an air of elegance that elevates OATH to new heights.
MONO challenged themselves with a universally relatable existential examination, and answered with OATH, an album that offers benevolent reflection rather than fleeting respite.
“We live with a vow that hasn’t changed since we were children. Hear the wind sing. We are part of the universe. We already know what we should do and what the most important thing in life is.” – Takaakira ‘Taka’ Goto, MONO
AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek
Oath is Mono's 12th album and marks their 25th anniversary. Across their career, fans and detractors have sometimes described their music in similar terms: monolithic, soundtrack-y, soundscape-y, repetitive, etc. It's all those things, but also much more. Since releasing 2006's Palmless Prayer/Mass Murder Refrain in collaboration with electronicist World's End Girlfriend, Mono's music seeks an intersection with sonic and textural worlds bigger, wider, saturated in tension and resonant motion. They've done so live and in studio with orchestras, chamber groups, and rock musicians. Oath marks their final studio collaboration with longtime producer/engineer Steve Albini, who died suddenly shortly before this release.
The 71-minute album revolves around themes of time, and living within its strictures – only time itself is eternal. The brief "Us, Then" emerges with sparkling guitar notes and electronic blips underscored gently by droning brass. They carry the circular motif before strings, bass, and guitars glide in a minimal progression that gradually increases in dynamic and drama. Dahm Majuri Cipolla's drum kit pulses and transforms into a hub as the jam unfolds. During its final moments, the title track segues in with noisy guitar, bass, glockenspiel, and keyboards. An electronic drone painted by subtle bass and guitar lines introduce "Run On," the longest track. Taka's elegant guitars add dimension to the orchestra's drone as Tamaki Kunishi's bassline whispers its support. Distorted crash cymbals, reverbed tom-toms, and keyboards paint the fore as the motif remains, evolving but unceasing. Warm brass and winds join the fray, adding heft that allows the quartet to ratchet its attack. As orchestral textures, harmonies, and dynamics merge with the quartet, they all become a monolith of crushing beauty and controlled, violent force. "Hear the Wind Sing" is the set's hinge track. A keyboard drone and wordless vocal choir softly frame subtle strings, then a phase-shifted electric guitar before a snare shuffle and circular piano vamp shade in the edges before the strings assert themselves. They meet Mono in the middle to first expand, then erase, and finally resurrect the motif with a distorted melancholy in a processional of power. The bell-and-slide guitar intro to "Moonlight Drawing" offers edgy gentleness. The orchestra's lyric statement is given added dimension by the drums, as bass, drums, and electronics hover in the backdrop. Cipolla's tom-tom shuffle with Kunishi's whispering bass frame an early crescendo before atmospherics, ritualistic tom-toms/kick drums create oppositional force that claims dominion; the orchestra adapts, appends, colors, and adds ballast to the lithe melodies inside the cacophonous maelstrom. The sheer chaos, dynamic tension, and unruly power in the latter half of "We All Shine On" recall the band's early years. The monolith sonics, lush orchestral backdrops, lyric, tonal, and harmonic invention are abundant, they more than compensate for the deliberate repetition. On Oath, Mono's seemingly disparate, trademark elements create a universe of sound and emotion to completely immerse oneself in for a moment, an hour, or a lifetime.
1. Us, Then
2. Oath
3. Then, Us
4. Run On
5. Reflection
6. Hear The Wind Sing
7. Hourglass
8. Moonlight Drawing
9. Holy Winter
10. We All Shine On
11. Time Goes By
Exact Audio Copy V1.6 from 23. October 2020
EAC extraction logfile from 10. July 2024, 22:25
MONO / Oath
Used drive : SlimtypeeBAU108 6 L Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\eac\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -e -p -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%–picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:04.57 | 0 | 9356
2 | 2:04.57 | 4:41.41 | 9357 | 30472
3 | 6:46.23 | 1:56.45 | 30473 | 39217
4 | 8:42.68 | 9:19.17 | 39218 | 81159
5 | 18:02.10 | 7:21.14 | 81160 | 114248
6 | 25:23.24 | 8:58.71 | 114249 | 154669
7 | 34:22.20 | 4:51.06 | 154670 | 176500
8 | 39:13.26 | 7:57.24 | 176501 | 212299
9 | 47:10.50 | 7:20.24 | 212300 | 245323
10 | 54:30.74 | 8:01.53 | 245324 | 281451
11 | 62:32.52 | 9:05.55 | 281452 | 322381
Track 1
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\01. MONO - Us, Then.wav
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Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 2
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\02. MONO - Oath.wav
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Peak level 95.2 %
Extraction speed 1.2 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track 3
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\03. MONO - Then, Us.wav
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Peak level 42.1 %
Extraction speed 1.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 4
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\04. MONO - Run On.wav
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Peak level 95.5 %
Extraction speed 1.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 5
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\05. MONO - Reflection.wav
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Peak level 94.5 %
Extraction speed 1.7 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track 6
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\06. MONO - Hear the Wind Sing.wav
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Peak level 95.0 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 7
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\07. MONO - Hourglass.wav
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Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 8
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\08. MONO - Moonlight Drawing.wav
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Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 9
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\09. MONO - Holy Winter.wav
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Peak level 94.4 %
Extraction speed 2.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 10
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\10. MONO - We All Shine On.wav
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Peak level 94.4 %
Extraction speed 2.4 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track 11
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\11. MONO - Time Goes By.wav
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Track quality 100.0 %
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None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
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End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: a8oJ1D8XtvO.WdQsB1piXdhLZ3g-] found
Submit result: already submitted
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
2 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
3 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
4 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
5 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
6 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
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8 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
9 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
10 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
11 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum CA1F8B1EA32A0E32B95913FD51B9E8A3C89B27EA656897855FBBE92EA907FC70 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 10. July 2024, 22:25
MONO / Oath
Used drive : SlimtypeeBAU108 6 L Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\eac\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -e -p -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=%comment%" -T "BAND=%albuminterpret%" -T "ALBUMARTIST=%albuminterpret%" -T "COMPOSER=%composer%" %haslyrics%–tag-from-file=LYRICS="%lyricsfile%"%haslyrics% -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %hascover%–picture="%coverfile%"%hascover% %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 2:04.57 | 0 | 9356
2 | 2:04.57 | 4:41.41 | 9357 | 30472
3 | 6:46.23 | 1:56.45 | 30473 | 39217
4 | 8:42.68 | 9:19.17 | 39218 | 81159
5 | 18:02.10 | 7:21.14 | 81160 | 114248
6 | 25:23.24 | 8:58.71 | 114249 | 154669
7 | 34:22.20 | 4:51.06 | 154670 | 176500
8 | 39:13.26 | 7:57.24 | 176501 | 212299
9 | 47:10.50 | 7:20.24 | 212300 | 245323
10 | 54:30.74 | 8:01.53 | 245324 | 281451
11 | 62:32.52 | 9:05.55 | 281452 | 322381
Track 1
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\01. MONO - Us, Then.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 23.0 %
Extraction speed 1.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 2
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\02. MONO - Oath.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 95.2 %
Extraction speed 1.2 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 70E61C70
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 3
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\03. MONO - Then, Us.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 42.1 %
Extraction speed 1.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 22ED159A
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 4
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\04. MONO - Run On.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 95.5 %
Extraction speed 1.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 5
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\05. MONO - Reflection.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.5 %
Extraction speed 1.7 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 6
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\06. MONO - Hear the Wind Sing.wav
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Peak level 95.0 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 7
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\07. MONO - Hourglass.wav
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Peak level 88.0 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 8
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\08. MONO - Moonlight Drawing.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.6 %
Extraction speed 2.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 9
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\09. MONO - Holy Winter.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 94.4 %
Extraction speed 2.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Track 10
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\10. MONO - We All Shine On.wav
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Peak level 94.4 %
Extraction speed 2.4 X
Track quality 99.9 %
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Track 11
Filename C:\new music\MONO - Oath (2024) {Record Label, Catalog Number, CD} [FLAC]\11. MONO - Time Goes By.wav
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Peak level 95.2 %
Extraction speed 2.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
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[CTDB TOCID: a8oJ1D8XtvO.WdQsB1piXdhLZ3g-] found
Submit result: already submitted
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
2 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
3 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
4 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
5 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
6 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
7 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
8 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
9 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
10 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
11 | (1/1) Accurately ripped
==== Log checksum CA1F8B1EA32A0E32B95913FD51B9E8A3C89B27EA656897855FBBE92EA907FC70 ====
Thanks to the Original ripper!