According to this collective of crusty punk (with bits of death metal and grind mixed in) loving Norwegians, the etymology of Monoceros is based in Greek and derived from the word μονόκερως (monokerōs), which itself is a compound of μόνος (monos), meaning “only one”/“single,” and κέρας (keras) which means “horn.” And the first appearance of the monoceros was in Pliny the Elder’s Natural History where it was described with uncanny accuracy as a hybrid monstrosity with a horse’s body, the head of an antler-less deer, elephant’s feet and the tail of a wild boar with one black horn in the middle of its forehead. Pliny also claimed that the creature was impossible to capture alive, probably because this Dr. Moreau mutation was an imaginary figment of an old-school bad acid trip or the visions caused by the grape stomper’s toenail fungus getting into a batch of wine.
Monoceros is also the name of the forthcoming second album by Forcefed Horsehead — set for release tomorrow via Owlripper Recordings, in case you were wondering how deep their affinity for bizarre animal themes runs — and we just so happen to have a stream of the record below for y’all to sample. When asked how the result of a ancient Roman hallucination applies to the band’s most recent blast of crusty death grind, they responded by saying: “Monoceros presents the failure and continuous decay of humanity, and explores the self-destructiveness and collective annihilation that comes from apathy, greed, selfishness and negative traits embedded into us as a diseased creature. Monoceros is a melting pot of metal genres that is difficult to pigeon-hole. There is a bit of everything represented throughout the album.”
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