The Monolith Deathcult - Trivmvirate
Twilight Vertrieb
Experimental Death Metal
8 songs (59:44)
Release year: 2008
The Monolith Deathcult
Reviewed by Goat
Album of the month

After 2005’s excellent The White Crematorium, which took an epic approach to The Monolith Deathcult’s historical-themed Brutal Death Metal, expectations were high as to what the Dutch five-piece would produce next. The answer will be obvious from the first few seconds of Trivmvirate as nine-minute opening track Deus Ex Machina starts with soft electronics and a male choir, before epic riffs and growls burst forth, the electronics merging with the rhythm guitar as the song opens up. This is quite a change from the general brutality of before, the band opting to concentrate on atmospherics to produce a radical new sound.

For those used to the previous heaviness, and indeed newcomers, this new approach is a little hard to swallow at first, but give it time and everything falls into place. The slightly murky production doesn’t help the subtleties in the band’s sound but repeated listens help bring them out, and the use of the electronic elements is always interesting, the band never making the mistakes of others with no imagination beyond ripping Fear Factory off. The level of experimentation is quite surprising, especially considering how safe Extreme Metal bands usually play it. Wrath Of The Baath, clearly based around events in a certain Middle-Eastern country, starts out with chanting and continues like early Nile on a bad day - taking a step up from the restraint of the first song – before about halfway through bringing the electronics to the forefront and creating an electro-metal anthem the likes of which is rare indeed.

Breakbeats and some sampled German children open Kindertodeslied, which continues the experimentation by interposing the growled and snarled German lyrics with more samples. Like other songs, the overall effect is slightly disturbing, especially when you consider the lyrical emphasis on the seconds World War, and the non-linear framework of the track will take several listens before it makes sense, but the experience is worth it.

The album continues with such gems as the epic Master Of The Bryansk Forests, which sounds like Decapitated covering Nightwish, and M.M.F.D, which starts out Death Metal enough before switching to ethereal female vocals and ambience. The last word, however, must go to fourteen-minute finale Den Ensomme Nordens Droning, which is the most epic and majestic interpretation of Death Metal that you’ll hear all year, mixing clean and harsh vocals to wonderful effect, and has to be heard to be believed. It is, without any exaggeration at all, a wonderful piece of Metal, and is easily worth buying the entire album for.

Putting it simply, there’s not a weak track on Trivmvirate, from start to finish. It’s rare that I can say that I enjoyed all the songs on an album equally, but this is as pretty darn close to perfection as it gets. A slightly clearer production would make the overall effect easier to take in, but no matter, The Monolith Deathcult is clearly and admirably keeping in touch with its roots whilst it reaches for the stars, and such dedication to the art of Death Metal is all too rare nowadays. This is definitely one of the best releases of the year, and so early too! With this one album, The Monolith Deathcult has gone from being a rather good Death Metal band to one of the reasons for the genre to continue existing. A great achievement, and an amazing album, this is a vital purchase for anyone that loves their Death Metal.

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Goat quoted 93 / 100
Other albums by The Monolith Deathcult that we have reviewed:
The Monolith Deathcult - Bloodcvlts (EP) reviewed by Goat and quoted no quote
The Monolith Deathcult - Tetragrammaton reviewed by Goat and quoted 83 / 100
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