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The Monolith Deathcult: The white crematorium 2.0

19/10/10 || Daemonomania

Well, after all the shit-talking Michiel Dekker does, and all of the rampant praise surrounding their “Trivmvirate” album, I figured I should check out a bit of what The Monolith Deathcult were up to. Sure enough a copy of “TWC2.0” was available for mega-cheap via mailorder, so I snagged it. Scroll down to the score below and see if I’m extremely pleased about that purchase. When you’re living above your means like Daemon Townsend every dollar counts. If I keep wasting cash on just ok releases, the elites will soon sniff out my poverty and expunge me from their ranks! Nooooooo!

My first warning sign should have been the “2.0” thing. As the band humorously explains in the booklet, apparently the first production job was a fucken disaster. Not something they were proud of. So with their newfound trivmvriches they had the whole thing overhauled. Smooth move.

Production fixes aside, this is clearly a developmental disc in the bands career. Halfway between brutal DM and keyboard DM. The songwriting, for the most part, is a clusterfuck of whirling riffs, double bass beatings, and spooky keyboards. Opener “Army of the despised” is an example of just how bad this mix can be. Random time changes, poor vocal patterns with piggy moments, and a complete lack of cohesiveness. Imagine Nile making love to Septic Flesh. Or Aborted banging Fear Factory. Or a painful dump accompanied by a Casio.

Things get better, and occasionally even venture into decent territory. “Concrete sarcophagus” and “The cruel hunters” both feature a bit more restrained songwriting with good breakdowns and appropriately placed keyboardery. The instrumental “The haunted ravines of Babi Yar” done by someone else is kinda cool and sounds like a Karl Sanders outtake. Things improve dramatically right at the end with the spiffy industrial groove occupying “1917 bla bla bla dulce de leche” and the nine minute doomy title track. Whatever the vocal effect they used in that tune is, sign me up for more. Cap it off with a bearable electronica thing that sounds like – to stick to the band sex comparisons – Rammstein fisting Kraftwerk. Which would produce the most dysfunctional Germanic knucklechildren ever.

What Deathcunt review would be complete without a lyrical discussion? Historically they go from Nazis to the Canaanites to Chernobyl and beyond. Not the best-written shit in the world, but hey, neither is this review. TMD throw in a few funny samples to add to the subject matter. Props for effort, instead of retreading the same ole gore/evil stuff. At this point in my metal career generic lyrics go in one ear, collect some earwax, and go out the other.

Above-average lyrics ain’t gonna save this one from the third tier, nor is an improved production. Not that it’s a terrible album (got plenty of those, thanks). Still, guess I should have just stuck with “Triviumvirus” like everybody said. Now I’ll have to choose between lunch and my absurd cellphone bill.

6,5

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Twilight Vertrieb
Website: www.monolith-deathcult.com
Band
Michiel Dekker: vocals, guitars
Robin Kok: bass, vocals
Carsten Altena: keyboards, samples
Martijn Moes: guitars
Sjoerd Visch: drums

Tracklist
01. Army of the Despised
02. 7 Months of Suffering
03. Concrete Sarcophagus
04. 1567 – Under the Blood Campaign
05. The Haunted Ravines of Babi Yar
06. Origin
07. The Cruel Hunters
08. 1917 – Spring Offensive
09. The White Crematorium
10. Kindertodestanz (bonus)

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