PRESS

- “Uniting proceedings is a mean-spirited sense of play: not something you’d necessarily expect from an album this crushingly heavy, but one that works extremely well given the peculiar circumstances.” - Metal Hammer (about"Are Forever")

- “Everything seems to happen at random, and yet nothing is left to chance. It jumps from one moment to the next, and yet it flows effortlessly. In the Trix café, an underground gem played better than the film in the big hall next door. 30,000 Monkies are the sharpest knife in the drawer. Their concert was beautifully brutal.” - HUMO (live at Desertfest 2019)

- "The Belgian four-piece have outdone themselves with some seriously sludgy, belligerent doom that occasionally borders on the sadistic in its tension. The chugs and pelts that ring throughout are complemented by scratching strings and atmospheric scrapes. I literally can’t wait for them to drop 8((0))8s and Heartbreak.” - Crack Magazine (about “Watch the Drone”)

- “This shit is weird as fuck. Oftentimes that’s not a good thing. Sometimes it is though, and this is one of those times! Punchy, experimental, blackened, noisy, etc. It’s the experimentation here which makes the sale.” - Metalsucks (about "I Ate Myself to Grow Twice as Big")

- “The Belgian band’s sludgy stoner/noise rock is catchy, hard hitting and pretty damn interesting. Listen to those fucked-up lyrics, and watch the sinister, wonky and all around gross and uncomfortable video for ‘Imperial Staches’ - Invisible Oranges (about "Somewhere Over the Painbow)

- ​"All in all, STARRRRRRRRING is a blameless exercise in dynamic composition. Being equal parts violent and subtle, its humorous overtones are accompanied by compelling atmospheres that seem to convey more serious matters. This EP situates itself somewhere between plain mockery and silent admiration, therewith obtaining a certain power to last.” - Arctic Drones (about "STARRRRRRRRING")

- “What would be your soundtrack for self-cannibalization? Would it be eerie, angry, haunting and hypnotic all at once? It’s a rad, adventurous listen.” - CVLT Nation (about "I Ate Myself to Grow Twice as Big")

- “This band has a very bright future ahead of them, and it would be killer to see them do a collab with some other artists well-versed in stuff like this, such as Merzbow or Full Of Hell.” - Heavy Blog Is Heavy (about "I Ate Myself to Grow Twice as Big")

- “In the vastly growing doom metal world this track belongs with the best of them… If you like noisey music, heavy fuzzy guitars, sludge with a bit of doom then you will do yourself a favour to add 30,000 Monkies to your collection.” - Ech(((o)))es and Dust (about “Somewhere Over the Painbow”)


- “I could go on, eulogising each track (special mention to The Fist of Impending Joy) but its consistency allays the need. To throw a random hypothetical analogy in - imagine Mike Patton and Stephen O'Malley holing up in some desert shack studio for a month - not that they’d get near this quality - but if they did, it would be lauded as genius far and wide. Instead it is just another quirky release from the madcap little known Belgians. Except it’s not, it really isn’t. It’s masterful. If you haven’t already, I urge you to get into the world of 30,000 Monkies and be grateful for their ongoing adventures forever more.” - Ninehertz (about "Are Forever")

- “A deceptively sprawling record that sees the band venturing to the very furthest poles of heavy music and attempting to coalesce their findings into something of their own.” - Metal Hammer (about "I Ate Myself to Grow Twice as Big")

- “Are Forever’ will either grind you into a pulp or shatter the last piece of sanity still left in you.” - Merchants of Air (about "Are Forever")

- This band knows how to construct cycodelic noise into mind-altering sounds that will have you scratching your head and then coming back for more. - CVLT Nation
(about “Somewhere Over the Painbow”)


- “Belgian doom outfit 30,000 Monkies did put on an amazing show, as what seems to be an alter-ego band called 3((0)),((0))((0))((0)) M((O))NKIES. With four guitarists, two bassists, and a drummer – all clothed in bathrobes – they were opening the Tartarus Records showcase, filling the V39 basement with thunderous and long-held chords. Émile Durkheim talks of the dichotomy of the sacred and the profane in life, and 3((0)),((0))((0))((0)) M((O))NKIES definitely were part of the sacred. The ritualistic atmosphere of the set was however soon dispelled with a burst of confetti spouting across the front row as the singer started screaming. Half of the people moved to another part of the room to avoid the little paper shreds, the other half of the people remained, not knowing what to do with their feelings, and whether to shake off the confetti, or to let it crawl into their underpants to signify their understanding of the act.” - Arctic Drones (live at Incubate 2016)

- “There are some great contrasts on this record, from heavy duty drone to almost psychedelic dream like twists that, perversely, are almost soothing on a record this heavy. A terrific debut.” - Echoes and Dust (about "I Ate Myself to Grow Twice as Big")

OTHER LANGUAGES:

- “Alles lijkt at random te gebeuren, en toch lijkt niks aan het toeval overgelaten. Klinkt van de hak op de tak, en toch stroomde alles. In het Trix-café speelde een undergroundprent beter dan de film in de grote zaal ernaast. 30,000 Monkies is het scherpste mes van de lade. Hun concert was ontroerend hard.” - HUMO (live at Desertfest) 

- “De pannen lagen al enige tijd op de Vlasmarkt. Fascinerend concert van een formidabele band. Of een formidabel concert van een fascinerende band. Anyway, onvergetelijk.” - Kinky Star Ce Soir (live at Gentse Feesten)

- “…het soms nog net niet in noise ontaardende postmetalig klinkende werk van de mannen uit Beringen steekt intelligent in elkaar en weet met haar bijwijlen bijna pijnlijk verstilde interludes het publiek voortdurend op het verkeerde been te zetten […] wat 30,000 Monkies hier heeft neergezet zal zeker bij enige bezoekers beklijven.” - 3voor12 (live at Hall of Fame)


- “Fascinerend, hard en onvoorspelbaar. Dat zijn drie woorden die het concert van 30.000 Monkies in Cul de Sac goed samenvatten. Dit Vlaamse noise-viertal weet in ieder geval goed waar het mee bezig is en zet daardoor ook een muzikaal sterk optreden neer.” - 3voor12 (live at Incubate)