The Monolith Deathcult
The White Crematorium 2.0
7.7
With their first two albums, The Apotheosis and The White Crematorium, the Netherlands' The Monolith Deathcult were labeled as a Nile clone, and based on my personal experience with The Apotheosis, that was a fair label at the time. However, with 2008's Trivmvirate the band delivered a pretty unique take on brutal death metal by adding some Germanic orchestration, keyboards, even techno beats and a far more experimental and epic take on death metal. (That record was vastly overlooked –I recommend you find it NOW.)
So the band has decided to re-record 2005's The White Crematorium in the style of Trivmvirate -- that’s to say that they added all the symphonics, orchestration and keyboards to the album, and while that gives the album a little more life, dynamics and variety, it doesn’t hide the fact that under all the shiny new elements, the album is pretty much still a Nile clone.
Look no further than opener “Army of the Despised,” which adds a quirky German operatic opening and majestic synths to the blatantly Nile riffage, and that’s pretty much the tone of the whole album. I have to admit, I’m going on memory here as I no longer own the original version so a direct comparison isn’t possible. The likes of “7 Months Suffering”, “Concrete Sarcophagus” “1567- Under the Blood Campaign” ‘The Cruel Hunters” each have a little more flair and synths than the originals, though it is a bit sudden and a bit over the top at times (“1917- Spring Offensive”). However, they do add something to the album's excellent, slower, 10+ minute title track. But the band still does not over-do the new stuff, with plenty of more-basic blasting like “Origin."
The redone version also includes a bonus track, “Kindertodestanz”, a pounding, Rammstein/techno/cyber-styled tune and some CD-ROM tracks that the digital promo obviously did not have. Still though, lurking under all the new stuff, is an OK brutal death metal album that’s certainly worth a listen for fans of the genre, and the added polish certainly gives, it a little something extra, though it’s not as cohesive and natural as Trivmvirate.
