The Monolith Deathcult - The White Crematorium
Karmageddon Media - Karma075 - 14/03/2005
By Patrick Walsh
In a time when very few death metal bands seem willing to try anything new and old stalemates seem to be on the wane (Morbid Angel spring to mind), the arrival of The Monolith Deathcult's new platter came as something of a shock. Confronted with a brutal death album that sounded at once fresh, exciting and technical, The White Crematorium is an oft-astounding piece of work. Indeed not since hearing Nile's Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka have I been so endeared by a new brutal death metal band, such is the presumably inherent lack of creativity and perpetual pointless 'retro' groups cropping up every other day. Save the regression for black metal please for Christ's sake.
Anyways, The White Crematorium can be viewed as an extension of where death metal had seemed to be heading a few years ago with the likes of Behemoth et al but never quite arrived for reasons that can be put down to a either a lack of balls or musical ineptness. Take Morbid Angel's template, add some of Behemoth's penchants for a slightly cleaner sound but coupled with the general chaos and 'this song could pretty much go anywhere' feel of Nile's works and you have The Monolith Deathcult in a fairly vague nutshell. In addition, we're offered a triple-pronged vocal attack that is probably the most effective i've heard in years, a willingness to experiment both vocally, musically and lyrically and you have got one serious death metal album on your hands.
The White Crematorium flies along at a belting place for the most part predictably, but it's underpinned with many mid-paced and slower passages. The soloing is very much of the Azagthoth school and occur pretty much randomly all over the place. This is a band who never shy away from throwing everything at you at once; the myriad screams, growls, riffs, odd-vocal effects (not unlike that low talking thing Shagrath from Dimmu Borgir does at times) and occasional synths sometimes feel as though they're going to fall apart in a noisy mess, and yet they somehow manage to keep it together. The lyrics are notable as they're of a historical nature, ranging from Nazism and Russian Gulags to the Duke of Alva's reign of terror (19th Century Burgundian Netherlands), and whilst some of them seem read like they were copy-pasted from a history textbook, the band succeed in creating a fairly horrific vision of our planet's history, and their eschewing of traditional death metal fare is to be commended.
The Monolith Deathcult have come out of nowhere and produced a death metal album worthy of anything that has surfaced in the last five years, and you'd do very well to give The White Crematorium a try. Trying to find a death metal band with even an inkling of distinction can be akin to finding rational religious folk at times, so The Monolith Deathcult are a band to be taken very seriously indeed.
9/10
The Monolith Deathcult's Official Website
Karmageddon Media's Official Website
Karmageddon Media - Karma075 - 14/03/2005
By Patrick Walsh
In a time when very few death metal bands seem willing to try anything new and old stalemates seem to be on the wane (Morbid Angel spring to mind), the arrival of The Monolith Deathcult's new platter came as something of a shock. Confronted with a brutal death album that sounded at once fresh, exciting and technical, The White Crematorium is an oft-astounding piece of work. Indeed not since hearing Nile's Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka have I been so endeared by a new brutal death metal band, such is the presumably inherent lack of creativity and perpetual pointless 'retro' groups cropping up every other day. Save the regression for black metal please for Christ's sake.
Anyways, The White Crematorium can be viewed as an extension of where death metal had seemed to be heading a few years ago with the likes of Behemoth et al but never quite arrived for reasons that can be put down to a either a lack of balls or musical ineptness. Take Morbid Angel's template, add some of Behemoth's penchants for a slightly cleaner sound but coupled with the general chaos and 'this song could pretty much go anywhere' feel of Nile's works and you have The Monolith Deathcult in a fairly vague nutshell. In addition, we're offered a triple-pronged vocal attack that is probably the most effective i've heard in years, a willingness to experiment both vocally, musically and lyrically and you have got one serious death metal album on your hands.
The White Crematorium flies along at a belting place for the most part predictably, but it's underpinned with many mid-paced and slower passages. The soloing is very much of the Azagthoth school and occur pretty much randomly all over the place. This is a band who never shy away from throwing everything at you at once; the myriad screams, growls, riffs, odd-vocal effects (not unlike that low talking thing Shagrath from Dimmu Borgir does at times) and occasional synths sometimes feel as though they're going to fall apart in a noisy mess, and yet they somehow manage to keep it together. The lyrics are notable as they're of a historical nature, ranging from Nazism and Russian Gulags to the Duke of Alva's reign of terror (19th Century Burgundian Netherlands), and whilst some of them seem read like they were copy-pasted from a history textbook, the band succeed in creating a fairly horrific vision of our planet's history, and their eschewing of traditional death metal fare is to be commended.
The Monolith Deathcult have come out of nowhere and produced a death metal album worthy of anything that has surfaced in the last five years, and you'd do very well to give The White Crematorium a try. Trying to find a death metal band with even an inkling of distinction can be akin to finding rational religious folk at times, so The Monolith Deathcult are a band to be taken very seriously indeed.
9/10
The Monolith Deathcult's Official Website
Karmageddon Media's Official Website
