Swiss rockers The Monsters have recently celebrated their thirty-year anniversary of making noise together. To mark the occasion, they released a brand new album, 'M,' as well as a tribute album of Monsters covers by some of the international underground's true talents.

In the late '80s and early '90s, when the band was still quite new, The Monsters released two albums of horror-punk and psychobilly tunes: 'Masks' (1989) and 'The Hunch' (1991). 'The Jungle Noise Recordings' (1994) found The Monsters reduced to a trio and shifting gears sound-wise to the fuzzed-out trash rock they later became known for. 'Youth Against Nature' followed in 1997 and further solidified the band's dedication to primitive rock 'n' roll, garage punk and trash. In 1999, The Monsters released 'Birds Eat Martians.' 'I See Dead People' followed in 2002. After a rather long break in releases there came the awesome 'Pop Up Yours!' in 2011. Somewhere along the line, the band released a two-disc collection of rare unreleased material and live recordings titled 'The Worst of Garage Punk from Bern Switzerland, 1986 - 2006.' Now, with 'M,' The Monsters are back with twelve all-new wild originals.

While 'M' lacks musical complexity and involved lyricism, it does have plenty of energy and expression. The Monsters conjure a riff and push it as far as it will go, the drums beat like mad and assist in getting it to its destination, and Beat-Man (guitar and vocals) sings simple, repetitive lyrics with his loud, gravelly voice. And there are some great Monsters songs here, a few of which could be added to the best-of category, like "Baby You're My Drug," "Dig My Hair," “Not Enough,” "Bongo Fuzz," "Happy People Make Me Sick," and “You Will Die.”
The cover art for ‘M’ is the band members collaged together wearing matching sweaters, looking somewhat like the Cult of Mr. Rogers, surrounded by words that are much like the red and blue ink doodles one made in one’s notebooks during particularly boring classes in high school.

As far as the Monsters tribute album, it is comprised of fifteen selections from the band's oeuvre to date. These selections were performed by a diverse and skilled group of artists from all over, including Swiss electro clash punk one-man band Urban Junior (“Dead End Street”), Irish folk singer-songwriter Dylan Walshe (“And Then You Cry”), Argentinean garage psych-rock and cumbia beat artista Rolando Bruno (“Nena Mi Droga Sos”), multi-genre French one-man band King Automatic (“Pony Tail and a Black Cadillac”), New Zealand troubadour Delaney Davidson (“Kiss Her Dead”), Italian garage punk duo The Devils (“More You Talk Less I Hear”), Swiss industrial noise punk soloist Sudden Infant (“More You Talk”), Swiss psychedelic rockers Roy & the Devil's Motorcycle (“Pony Tail and a Black Cadillac”), and more.

The Monsters tribute cover art, which shows two nuns having standing sex with two strapping young lads back to back, has been censored and concealed by a “for adults’ eyes only” sticker in several places on the web. The cover folds out to reveal a number of photos of tour posters, The Monsters while on the road and on stage, posing for promo pics, and having a good time as band mates, drinking buddies, and music fanatics.

Both releases are available from independent Swiss rock ‘n’ roll label Voodoo Rhythm Records in CD and LP formats.