We get requests at Metal Reviews almost everyday from many unsigned bands that want us to review their material. You've got to respect the fact that many of these bands really believe in themselves and must feel very confident in what they have to offer listeners. They are basically letting reviewers like myself hold their fate and success to some extent.

When we received a request to review Monera's Homework, I thought I'd give it a shot. In their original e-mail to Metal Reviews, Monera tried to give us some examples of what they sounded like but I don't even think the band could quite pinpoint that. The band name Monera doesn't exactly put them in any definable musical category like Speed Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, etc. Some of the definitions of the word Monera are "prokaryotic bacteria and blue-green algae and various primitive pathogens; because of lack of consensus on how to divide the organisms into phyla informal names are used for the major divisions" and "bacteria and other mostly tiny, single-celled organisms whose genetic material is loose in the cell". Monera is a very interesting and original choice for a band name.

Even by looking at the band's album artwork, (the cover depicts a piece of loose leaf lined paper with lead pencil smudges, black magic marker with the inner booklet having pictures of stick figures that look like they were drawn by a preschooler, etc), and reading the song titles (like Hit Single, Dream and Adrenalin), there was no way to tell what I was going to be in store for. Also, the band is from Belgrade, Yugoslavia . With that being said, I was really looking forward to what Monera had to offer. After listening to the CD in its entirety, I still had a hard time trying to compare these guys to something I've heard before.

The band's CD Homework has some pretty good production values for something that is self-financed At times, the band has more of a rock/grunge vibe like Alice In Chains (Bitter Questions/Adrenalin) and at other times it steps things up a notch and gets into some more aggressive metal playing with some System of a Down style riffing (It Doesn't Matter). Monera incorporates some acoustic guitars on tracks like Every Step and Fear Not!. The song So What? sounds like something that could have fit right on one of The Cult's albums. It's got a catchy vibe to it with the percussion shaking and the slide guitars leads. Hit Single contains some nifty bass slapping and has a Red Hot Chili Peppers feel to it. There's even some piano used on the song Slow and Silent.

One thing Homework is not short on is guitar leads. On some tracks there is a good amount of guitar soloing which seems to be played throughout the songs, underlying the vocals much of the time. And as for the vocals, I can hear a little bit of lower register early era Freddy Mercury mixed with the vocal vibrato of Serj Tankien. I also can't help but compare the vocals to those of Our Lady Peace (Naveed era).

I like the over all sound of the band and their instruments. There is a certain rawness to them yet everything is audible. The drums are tight sounding with regards to the snare and bass drum. The guitars are not over distorted and have a nice tone to them, enabling them to cut through the music so you can at least make out what's being played. The vocal delivery is clear and effortless. The bass helps provide the bottom end. Monera seems to concentrate on the attack of their music rather than a big, overly produced sound, which is fine by me.

Monera's Homework is one of the most welcomed unsigned/self financed pieces of work to come across my path in a long time. I'd really like to see these guys get more exposure and noticed so they will become a household name. The band is currently looking for a publisher. Any interested parties should contact them at their My Space Page above.