Monstrosa Reclaims Their Voice on Heavy New Single “Mandible”

Alternative metal band Monstrosa confronts physical pain, emotional suppression, and the difficult process of finding your voice on their latest single, “Mandible.” Blending metal, alternative, and hard rock with vulnerable songwriting, the track transforms deeply personal experiences into a forceful statement about refusing to stay silent.

“Mandible” originated from a period when emotional trauma was manifesting physically for Monstrosa through jaw and throat pain. Teeth grinding, neck tension, and difficulty opening their mouth while singing became inseparable from a larger struggle to communicate and speak up. That connection eventually became the foundation of the song, with the physical act of opening the mouth serving as a striking metaphor for reclaiming a voice.

The track’s main riff carries an equally personal history. It was written on Monstrosa’s first guitar, an old blue Stratocaster covered in puffy animal stickers that had been sitting at their parents’ house. After setting the guitar up in Drop C to learn Gojira and Mastodon songs, its lower register inspired the riff that would become “Mandible.” Playing it offered a way to communicate without words while the song was taking shape.

Musically, that origin translates naturally into Monstrosa’s guitar-forward approach. The heaviness feels purposeful, giving the frustration behind the lyrics somewhere physical to go.

The song also extends beyond individual experience, addressing the pressure to become desensitized to suffering and remain quiet in the face of injustice. For Monstrosa, finding their own voice became connected to using it for others as well.

Known for combining heavy music with theatrical performances, movement, demon masks, and emotionally exposed songwriting, Monstrosa has created a world where darkness is confronted rather than hidden.

On “Mandible,” that philosophy becomes especially visceral. The track is ultimately about what can happen when silence becomes more painful than finally making noise.

“Mandible” connects physical jaw and throat pain with the emotional struggle to speak up. When did you first realize those two experiences were connected enough to become the foundation of a song? The first time I fully realized these two experiences were connected was during singing lessons. Because I play in a metal band, projecting my voice properly is so important, but I always felt I was falling short. I was also equally insecure about it since so many people in the genre can growl, do distortion, scream, all sorts of cool, loud stuff that I love. I met the artist AARYS at a women and non-binary producers night hosted by Wadi in Toronto, and she said she did vocal lessons. Working with her has been such an eye-opener for me because she helped me identify all the ways I was physically holding back my voice. I was barely opening my mouth when singing and would shut down mentally and physically if I started singing louder. The discomfort I felt when raising my singing volume was a full-body experience, and it started from my jaw. This also helped me come to terms with other times in my life where I froze or couldn’t speak up in the face of danger. Grinding my teeth at night, neck pain, struggling to open my jaw enough to enunciate- these were all physical manifestations of pushing down emotional pain in my life, as well as being conditioned to stay quiet to please those around me. Singing about this experience in “Mandible” has been very cathartic for me, and I feel the connection between jaw/throat pain and emotional pain is a more universal experience than we realize.

The main riff was written on your first guitar while you were dealing with trauma surrounding your jaw. How did playing guitar become a way of communicating when using your actual voice felt difficult? Playing guitar has always been like therapy to me. Having an outlet is important, but I find it especially so when you’re in the early stages of processing trauma. Sometimes I desperately needed to get my feelings out, but I didn’t have the right words, so playing guitar took the pressure away from having to fully formulate coherent thoughts around really traumatic events. Playing guitar was a way to express myself without having the physical pain in my jaw swell up from speaking or singing, as well as a way to process emotions without the pressure of talking when I wasn’t ready to.

There’s a powerful contradiction in making such a loud, heavy song while admitting you’ve struggled with the idea of being “too loud.” How has creating “Mandible” changed your relationship with taking up space? “Mandible” helped change my relationship with taking up space in a lot of ways. It’s the first song on our discography I feel I can confidently call a metal song. It allowed me to view my own voice as powerful, even if it wasn’t a traditional metal vocal performance. This contradiction of making such a heavy song while actively struggling with the idea of being “too loud” is also an example of the DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) skill “opposite action.” I talk a lot in my songs about my experiences with BPD, but “Mandible” is an interesting example of this because it uses DBT skills in real time. The skill “opposite action” means deliberately acting contrary to a negative emotion in order to cope with it/help lower its intensity. Writing “Mandible” while simultaneously having strong urges to self-isolate, be silent, and invalidate myself helped change my relationship to taking up space by actively using “opposite action” and singing lyrics about my pain loudly and intentionally.

“Mandible” moves from an intensely personal experience into a broader statement about becoming desensitized to other people’s suffering. How did you approach connecting those ideas without losing the personal core of the song? Connecting these ideas came naturally to me, as I believe the personal is political. I was simultaneously suppressing my emotions around my own trauma, while also suppressing my emotions around world events. I think sometimes to process trauma, whether it be our own or vicarious trauma, we mistakenly normalize it. We bite it down and go about our day because that somehow feels easier. And this manifests physically as well as mentally. In the very last chorus of “Mandible” instead of saying “don’t pretend my pain’s not real” I change it to say “don’t pretend our pain’s not real.” This was a deliberate choice because I feel our pain and suffering are connected, but so is our liberation. The song started from a very personal place of admitting my pain was worthy of healing and attention, and part of that healing journey was feeling interconnectedness with others. I know so many people’s pain, physical, mental, and otherwise, is dismissed, minimized, and ignored. And I knew I was not immune to doing this either; I worried about becoming desensitized to images of war, to the genocide in Palestine, to police violence, or any other injustice in the world. No one should ever have to beg for their humanity to be acknowledged, and “Mandible” is a cry against the propaganda that makes us numb to our own pain as well as the pain of the oppressed. Finding connection through suffering turns it on its head, helps us heal, and teaches us to speak up for ourselves and others when previously this pain may have suffocated, divided, and silenced us.

Your live performances use masks, movement, and theatricality alongside vulnerable subject matter. How do you see the visual world of Monstrosa expanding the meaning of a song as emotionally charged as “Mandible”? My band has an insanely talented roster of multi-disciplinary artists. The visual world of Monstrosa expands on the meaning of the song “Mandible” by exaggerating its physicality. We love using horror motifs and props to draw in audiences. For the visuals, we had makeup artist @abigailmuaofficial craft a literal mandible for me to wear over my jaw. With theatre-size body parts, we hope to drive home the connection between mental and physical trauma. Plus, having strange, massive body parts on stage makes for a fun metal show