Editorial Policy

What We Look For

• Professionally produced releases. Recordings, mixes, and masters that sound like the artist took the work seriously.
• A strong artistic identity. A point of view in the sound, the visuals, or the project as a whole.
• Clear momentum. Releases landing, shows booked, something happening that a piece of coverage can build on.
• A compelling story. A real angle. Something worth writing about and reading.

What We Don't Cover

• Hobby projects without an intent to release or perform at a serious level.
• Low-effort submissions. Copy-pasted pitches, generic bios, material that suggests no real investment in the work.
• Spam and promotional mass-pitches.
• Auto-generated or AI-produced music passed off as an artist's work.
• Pay-to-play coverage, sponsored placements, or press release rewrites. Coverage is not for sale.

AI and the Editor

One editor runs The Sonic Monolith. That works because an AI-assisted workflow carries the load at the input edge, intake, research, and first drafts. The editor's time then goes where judgment matters, deciding what to cover, shaping what a piece says, checking the facts, and making the call to publish. AI prepares, the editor decides. Every piece is approved by a human before it goes live, and nothing publishes automatically.

Editorial Voices

The publication publishes under four editorial voices. These are pen names, not individual writers. Each one represents a coverage mode and gives the publication a consistent tone across the kind of work it does.

• Kael StrömSound and production
  Records, mixes, arrangements, the craft of how a piece of music is built.
• Dia SantosCulture and scene
  The cities, labels, venues, and communities artists come out of.
• Juno WraithOpinion and criticism
  Arguments, reviews, and takes on where a sound is going.
• Nico VartanLive and performance
  Shows, stage presence, and how work lands in a room.

Verification

Claims a reader would rely on get checked, release dates, credits, links, and tour dates. What we cannot verify is cut, attributed to the artist as their own statement, or held until it is solid.

Sensitive Content

Allegations, legal issues, and disputes that carry defamation or harm risk get extra review. We may ask for documentation, hold a piece until it is solid, or decline it. On sensitive material the default is caution, not speed.

Contact

Submissions and pitches are invite-only. Anyone can put an artist on our radar. For everything else, a correction, a question, or anything about our coverage, email the editor at editor@sonicmonolith.com. We read every message and correct or append a note where it is warranted.