Japanese instrumental rock band, MONO, have today unveiled details of their next release and subsequent tour. The quartet will be releasing not one, but two, albums this October, and will embark on a full European tour shortly afterwards.You can hear a track from the first of these new MONO albums, entitledWhere We Begin,thanks to The Quietus,HERE.

The albums - entitledThe Last DawnandRays of Darkness- were recorded simultaneously, although they are, creatively and conceptually, worlds apart. They are two sides to a story, but they remain hand in hand. Themes that have permeated MONO's previous output are revisited through the conjoined albums: hope and hopelessness, love and loss, immense joy and unspeakable pain.When asked why MONO were releasing two album instead of, perhaps, one longer one, Taka simply says "There were black and white sides inside of me, like darkness and hope.

I felt they could not exist on the same album."The "light" side of this chapter in the MONO story isThe Last Dawn. Noticeably more stripped back than their previous releases, the album clocks in at under forty minutes. In direct contrast,Rays of Darknessis an altogether more ominous and brooding beast. Notable for the absence of MONO's near-trademark orchestral instruments, this album leans heavily on the aggression of blistering riffs, jarring angles, and a doom-layered undertone. Another dynamic is added by the involvement of post-hardcore pioneer, Tetsu Fukagawa of Envy; Tetsu provides vocals, for the first time ever on a MONO recording.