Another UK death metal release… on top of some absolutely blinding albums from Desecration, Amputated, Basement Torture Killings, Cancerous Womb, Ancient Ascendant and Dripback, Monumentomb have dropped their 1st release, the 6 track ‘Ritual Exhumation’ EP and fuck me is it good! The quality of musicianship & song writing is even more amazing given that this band have only been in existence for about 9 months. This quartet from the death metal heart-lands of er… Maidstone have totally nailed it here with one of the best début releases for a long time, Monumentomb have fucking landed, boys & girls!
This is a band obviously mustard keen, full of energy and hungry but tempered with maturity and utter competence, this is genuinely a brilliant 1st effort.
From the spooky cloister bell / ritual chanting intro you get the impression that you’re in for something a bit special and then that first riff to “Ritual Exhumation” comes in and you’re off into a controlled maelstrom of Byron Braidwood & Gaius Toulson’s swirling riffing with Lee Charlton’s precise drumming sounding ‘proper’ and by that I mean not triggered to fuck like some ‘br00tal’ bands do. Byron’s vocals have a real ‘presence’ and really suit the music he’s growling over. Speaking of the music… like say, Ancient Ascendant’s last album, to just categorise it as death metal probably doing it a dis-service as there’s a lot of really heavy eerie parts (the solo in “In The Crypt Devoured”) and some classic thrash influences breaking through too – “Perennial Interment”). The band blends together a mix of Dismember / Bolt Thrower & Dark Angel without ever sounding exactly like any of them. Brilliant, brutal yet melodic (in places) stuff.
I really look forward to seeing what this band can do live. If the guys can keep up this level of quality then this EP marks the beginning of something very special indeed.