UNDERCOVER

Monkey 3 is a stoner/space rock band that usually plays all instrumental music. 'Undercover' is their EP take on 6 covers. They give the songs, most of them quite popular among the progressive rock crowd, the space rock treatment. The have recruited two guest singers to help them with these covers.

It starts out with 'Numb', a cover originally from the band Archive. For those that don't know, Archive is a band that does a mostly electronic, trip-hop progressive sound. This cover is not trip-hop at all and it is all instrumental, but is a perfect example of their space rock sound with heavy guitars and lots of synth effects. A great opener, which takes a lot of liberties with the original.

'Watching You' is a cover from Kiss. This one features John Garcia from Kyuss as the lead singer. Much better than anything Kiss has ever done, this one is along the same line as Kyuss, that heavy stoner rock with a lot of great guitar. Kiss was always corporate rock to me, but this cover gives the song new life.

'One of These Days' is the excellent instrumental that opens up the album 'Meddle' for Pink Floyd. This one is a ambitious attempt, and instead of meandering so much in the beginning, it starts off quite heavy from the beginning, but the cover is surprisingly good and you'll have no problem recognizing the song. They definitely do it justice.

'Kashmir' is the Led Zeppelin track that everyone knows. It is sung by Tony Jeloncovich from M.A.N. and Transport League. It's a decent cover, but doesn't change the original much except for the fact that guitars are used in place of the strings. The vocals are heavier in this instance, and it's a decent job, but doesn't change the original or add anything to it as it did with the other tracks so far.

'Burn' is the cover of the Deep Purple song. It is kept at a slower, dream-like rhythm and is actually a great take on the song, and it is also all instrumental and alternates between heavy stoner rock and a bit softer at times. It builds off of the famous riff from the original, but keeps it at a slower, yet heavy tempo. It gets quite intense towards the middle and has a few excellent guitar solos in the middle. It is a definite improvement on the original, believe it or not.

'Once Upon a Time in the West' is a cover from Ennio Morricone, which they have done before on other EPs. This time, we get a live version of it though. It starts out sparse and pensive with a wind effect and a lone electric guitar. Finally after two minutes of this, you get a synth pattern as a base, and the guitar moans and drones in some interesting sounds, then there is a crash of a bell and drums and a slow and heavy melody starts as the guitar slowly slogs out the theme. At 4 minutes, a steady slow pace gets established as the guitar continues moaning out the theme.

The EP is a good entrance into the stoner/space rock of the band, and the covers are pretty good, with 'Kashmir' being the weakest, yet it is still decent. The band's albums are actually better since they have original material on them for the most part, but this will give you insight into their music. The band is actually quite talented and those that love the stoner style rock will love them. This EP is definitely worth looking into, but then so is all of their music. This is one of those bands that should be more popular than what they are. If you love the heavy music of Black Sabbath or other 70's hard rock, this is also right up your alley.