Monster

Steppenwolf’s fourth studio album (and second of 1969), Monster featured a new lead guitarist — Michael Monarch was out, Larry Byrom was in — and a nastier, heavier sound, cranked-up and carefully produced at the same time. The opening title track, “Monster/Suicide/America,” is probably John Kay’s darkest and most aggressive anti-America diatribe, literally describing the country as a monster that must be killed. It’s also a three-part suite that’s more than nine minutes long, so strap in for that. Other tracks on the album include “Draft Resister,” “Power Play,” “What Would You Do (If I Did That To You)” (with lead vocals by drummer Jerry Edmonton, and groovy, Vegas-Elvis female backing vocals) and the closing “From Here to There Eventually,” a gospelized proto-metal discussion of religion’s failure to meaningfully address social issues.