Rating: 7.5

Country: Netherlands

Release Date: 2003

Record Label: Cold Blood Industries

Track list:
1.Doomed To Slaughter
2.The Forest Of Flesh
3.Cathedral Of Corpses
4.The Malleus Maleficarum Manuscript
5.The Apotheosis (Instrumental)
6.The Deserved Reputation Of Cruelty
7.Desecration Of The Black Stone [MP3]
8.Der Kriegsmeister
9.Colosseum Carnage

Total playing time: 37:13

Band Website: The Monolith Deathcult

The Monolith Deathcult - The Apotheosis

Michiel Dekker - Guitar, Vocals
Robin Kok - Vocals, Bass
Martijn Moes - Guitar, Vocals
Sjoerd Visch - Drums
Carsten Altena - Keyboards, Samples

Previously under the moniker Monolith, this Dutch death metal band consisting of members from Dead Head, Eternal Conspiracy, Altar, etc., is now known as The Monolith Deathcult and have released their debut album titled ‘The Apotheosis'. The music found here is extremely fast, aggressive and highly intense. It's like gaysex between Anasarca and Nile; the charging riffs and pounding thrusts of the former against the Middle East tinged riffs and bellowing of the latter. Sometimes their style also reminds me of Vader. Apart from the frenetic blasting which dominates this album, there are ample tempo changes, nice thrashy parts and even variations in their speed and position. It's during the mid-paced/slow parts that Nile gets on top and takes control. There are some totally crushing parts in the album which would beg you to headbang to them and violently only, but unfortunately they are rare as the band seems more interested in the redundant pounding.

Tthe noisy Slayer/Vader-esque leads kind of test your patience and the fact that they get worse as the album progresses doesn't help too much either. They are short, abrupt, scratchy and go nowhere. It's as if they've been forced by someone to play leads and they're retaliating by deliberately screwing it up and making noise just to irritate that person. Oh well.. the vocals here are pretty similar to the ones on Nile, mainly being deep, low and at times guttural, making it almost indecipherable. They are done by at least two vocalists who sound mostly the same and occasionally one could also hear dual vocals, tortured screams- basically Nile aping. The drummer is able to blast effectively along with the music, so no problems there.

The album has a powerful production with a sharp, scathing guitar tone and unlike the muddy production of Nile, its rather clean and crisp. I would've liked a more down-to-earth natural sounding one but they just seem too keen to pierce your skull with its sharpness. They seem to have interesting lyrics about ancient wars and mythological stuff but with the vocals being too low in the mix, it's quite difficult to keep track of them (actually, I'm just lazy). Despite the band having changed its name to The Monolith Deathcult, the logo on the CD still shows Monolith I wonder why. If they had changed their name to The Monolith Deathcunt instead, then the cover would've probably had an interesting cover with a massive carnivorous cunt instead of the current dumb one depicting Christ crucified on a cross merged with what seems like an elbow bone to me. Hmm. I don't know if it has some intellectual concept behind it but I seriously doubt it.

The Monolith Deathcult show a lot of potential on their debut album 'The Apotheosis'. It even gets better with more spins but it still accounts for a rather tedious listen. Fans of Nile who desire less Egyptian bullshit and more crushing brutality shouldn't go too wrong with this.

March 7th, 2005