Filled with defiance and courage, Widetrack openly challenges the static perspectives and cultures of rigid societies on Monoliths.
The Waterford, Michigan father-son duo of Ron Tippin (drums, vocals) and Zach Tippin (guitar, bass) exposes the toxicity of groupthink, coercion and betrayal on their latest alt-prog album.
“It’s the general idea of things being very homogenized … and in terms of something that’s very difficult to change, but very huge and imposing—like monolithic societies,” said Ron Tippin.
“But it can also represent hope like [challenging] the monoliths in the film The Matrix, which represents the possibility of escape from a simulated reality. That was very much the idea of ‘Illumination,’ the opening track, and a lot of the songs that we started with were very dark, negative and heavy.”
As that realization came to light, Widetrack decided to include another hopeful track on their fifth album. “And then we came up with ‘Unlived,’ and I thought, ‘OK, there’s some positivity here,’ which is kind of a first for us,” Ron Tippin said.
Along with that new thematic development, Widetrack shares insightful tales of conflict, change and determination across eight bold tracks on Monoliths.
The band’s philosophical lyrics, emotive vocals and driving hard-rock, prog-rock and metal instrumentation instantly transport listeners to a contentious world that’s overdue for a revolt.
“I spend a lot of time on social media, as a lot of people do, as an observer and see objective reality and objective truth becoming relics,” Ron Tippin said.
“Some people just can hone in on a narrative—that’s the reality for them—and they get siloed in that. It’s made the divisions more pronounced than ever.”
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