RSS Feed


MONUMENTOMB
Ritual Exhumation EP

Self-released (2014)
Rating: 8/10

Well, I never. Monumentomb are an old school sounding death metal band who hail from my home county of Kent in England, and literally live just a few miles away. It’s good then that I enjoy their debut EP immensely – otherwise, they may be turning up at my door armed with axes!

Six tracks, infectious riffs, guttural vocals and a musty atmosphere abounds on this excellent platter which features Byron Braidwood on guitar / vocals, fellow axeman Alex Brown, bassist Gaius Toulson, and drummer Lee Charlton.

The quartet comes armed with some great vintage cover art of zombiefied hands emerging from the soggy ground while some haggard conjurer looks on. It’s the perfect sleeve for the sound contained herein, a mouldy mix of low-tempo death metal bolstered by chesty coughs of evil and down-tuned bitterness and bile.

These guys only formed in September 2013, so I’m impressed by the foetid air of this record, which fuses deadly death metal with a dose of chunky black metal ghoulishness in the distance. Immediately, I’m thinking of Sweden’s Grave as the likes of ‘Citadel Of The Living Dead’ (great title!) comes worming its way through the room like a poisonous fog. There are also hints of Autopsy, Bolt Thrower and a pungent whiff of Entombed too, but there’s that distinctive British stench about proceedings which culminates in some great solos which at times echo Carcass.

The whole feel is one of dankness as the band provides clammy bursts of speed alongside doomier strains. Every track is a winner as we’re led via the chimes of the brief intro into the murk of the title track with its deep, dark melody and lethal percussive explosions.

My favourite track – ‘In The Crypt Devoured’ – follows, the dirty chugging riff worming with menace. It recalls the foetid days of Sweden’s initial invasion upon the death metal scene, and then injects a rancid dose of pace. With intricate melody squirming through the damp riffage and guttural coughs, the track is a wonderful time machine which transports us back to the late 80s and early 90s, a time when bands such as Bolt Thrower, Cancer et al, ruled the roost and flew the British flag of hate.

‘Perennial Interment’ begins with a sniff at that Carcass style of musical decomposition; its riff is drenched in doom before the quartet ups the pace and nails the listener with a barrage of drums and bass, all prior to those infectious solos and humid, festering melodies providing respite from the suffocating death metal fog.

This is great stuff, the sort of rank cacophony we’ve craved over the years as our classic death metal bands have watered down or become defunct. There’s this new, earthy trend which suggests that old school death metal is back with a vengeance, and I sincerely hope that Monumentomb – with their sickeningly weighty expressions – garner the attention they deserve, because the five lumps of rotting flesh they’ve stacked up here are some of the best vintage death metal outbursts I’ve heard for many years. Long may these Maidstone wizards of graveyard grot reign.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share