The track opens on a deceptive hush, vocals draped soft and almost mournful over a bed of guitar that seems to be gathering its breath. It’s a clever bit of misdirection. Just as you settle into the melancholy, the chorus detonates \u2014 vocals flipping from tender to feral in the space of a bar, riffs turning rip-roaring and unashamed. The dynamic range on display here is the record’s real trick: verses that soothe, choruses that snarl, and a rhythm section that knows precisely when to hold back and when to floor it. Grief and rage don’t often share a chorus this comfortably, but Defined By manage to let both emotions breathe without either one smothering the other.<\/span><\/p> Sonically, “Monopoly” trades in atmosphere as much as riffage. There’s a haunting quality threaded through the production, a shadow cast over even the song’s most anthemic moments, which gives the whole thing a weight beyond your standard guitar-band fare. It punches, certainly, but it bruises too \u2014 the kind of track that lodges itself in your ribs and stays there for a few days after listening.<\/span><\/p> “Monopoly” plays like a statement of intent from a group who know exactly what they want to sound like and have simply gone and made it happen. The choruses are massive without straining for arena-scale bombast, the riffs are muscular without descending into pastiche, and the emotional throughline \u2014 that ache of loss curdling into anger \u2014 gives the track a spine that plenty of guitar music these days conspicuously lacks.<\/span><\/p> If “Monopoly” is any indication of where Defined By are headed in 2025, Lancashire has another proper contender on its hands. Loud, wounded, and entirely sure of itself \u2014 this is a single that earns every one of its dips, builds, and detonations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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