ALBUM REVIEW: Scourge – Monotheist
Scourge is the debut full length from Orlando five-piece MONOTHEIST, and they have brought out quite an offering. With eight tracks spanning over an hour of playing time, the album is one that takes time to listen to and multiple listens to really get deep into. It transcends what would normally be called tech death or something similar and becomes a very different animal.
The album opens with The Grey King and straight away, you are thrown deep into 90s death metal territory. You do get little hints as to what is to follow, as the track goes from blistering pace to a slower, devastatingly heavy sequence before throwing all kinds of time changes and moods at the listener. There is so much going on here, its only on maybe the third or fourth listen that you get really hear everything that’s going on. The next track follows in a similar vein, but with a being a couple of minutes longer, explores these alternative directions a little more in depth. After that you do get a brief respite with a short instrumental, the delicate violins interlude of Mark Of The Beast Pt 1: The Image.
From that point on, the songs really take on a life of their own, beginning with the second part of Mark Of The Beast. Scion Of Darkness really brings out the different influences and themes that are hinted at earlier but allowed time to develop and grown in the last few ambitious songs. Four minutes of out and out savagery before a calmer passage of music comes in. This doesn’t last too long before the guttural vocals are back, but it opens the door for a few changes in pace and direction before the ten-minute instrumental of Infinite Wisdom. A slow building track that takes you to the point where you think it will all come together and erupt into chaos, before it quietens down and starts building again. This time it gets heavier and more intense. Abominable Acts and the title track close out the record with more experimentation and assorted visions, each track following a similar structure but very different from each other.
Its difficult to think of a recent debut that is as accomplished as this. The band are far from newcomers, first forming in 2004, but with only a couple of EPs and demos, material is thin on the ground from MONOTHEIST. If this is a sign of things to come, then these are definitely a band to look out for. The progressive death metal tag gets thrown about quite a lot, and quite often it is generally used to describe bands who add a couple of different elements into the usual death metal trope. MONOTHEIST however, take you on an epic journey with Scourge taking in many different influences along the way, and it is one that is well worth your time. A must for fans of old school death metal, and a damn good recommendation to those of you that like more experimental and progressive music.
Rating: 9/10
Scourge is out now via Prosthetic Records.
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