The Mon: Songs of Embrace

Urlo, the bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist from the Italian psychedelic metal band Ufomammut, has a solo project titled The Mon. The most recent release, from March of this year, is titled Songs of Embrace. It’s meant to be a companion album to last autumn’s Songs of Abandon. The album’s structures are very different, however. While Songs of Abandon featured acoustic tunes with vocals, Songs of Embrace is entirely instrumental and highly electronic.

“While the first part explored abandonment and loss, this one focuses on presence, proximity, and the physical act of staying. It is the answering breath, the inner voice,� Urlo states. “The album avoids resolution and comfort, embracing slowness, repetition, and bodily tension. It is not just music, it is a stream of consciousness, an inner search, a way of inhabiting what weighs without letting go.�

The songs go from quite dark, sometimes disturbing soundscapes to tranquil, somewhat ethereal tracks, often in succession. For instance, “Ritual of Night Violence� is mainly cacophonous, high-pitched static that resembles machine gun fire, but is followed by the very placid “Sovereign of Silence.� It seems unlikely that these immediate contrasts are coincidental.

Like with much of Ufomammut’s work, there’s really not a standout number on the album. It is meant to be listened to as a whole, and while it doesn’t reach the peaks of Ufomammut’s 2010 Eve or 2022’s Fenice, there is enough interesting material on the album for it to be recommended to those who appreciate what might be called “progressive drone.�

Track Listing
1. Invocation of the Abyss (4:48)
2. Three Nails, One Heart (2:26)
3. Incantation (5:54)
4. The Sigil (2:40)
5. A Pearlescent Pulse of Light (2:47)
6. Ritual of Night Violence (4:10)
7. Sovereign of Silence (4:59)
8. Embers of Calendula (4:50)
9. Echoes of the Drowned (1:49)
10. Embrace the Abandon (4:06)

Added: May 18th 2026
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:
Related Link: Urlothemon online
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Language: english

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