A Monument To The Suffering
Golden Lake Productions/Grindethic Records
GOLDCD016/BEER02
During these five furious floggings from local barbarians Detrimentum, their instruments are employed as sonic cudgels, with which they perform unpredictable acts of blackened Death/Doom/Grind!
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Opening song, The First Three Circles of Hell [Epitaph for the Disfigured], begins with a foul orgy of gnarled riffage, furious blast abuse and a tattered throat full of sharp foreign bodies. Excellent use of melody follows, draping a sombre acoustic arpeggio over triumphant drumming before unleashing more driving rhythm and chaotic riffs. A semi-technical and dynamic opening brusier what sets the scene for the next few devastating eruptions.
A Monument To The Suffering has much unpredictable brutality, with deft tempo changes and intricate song structures, all of which flow along flawlessly. Guitars produce a myriad of riffs, weaving adroitly from watertight grooves to blazing fretboard assaults, sometimes branded with searing leads. Great drumwork gives the material a galvanised framework, beating skillfully back and forth between Brutal Death patterns and fills and Black Metal style binary blasting, with threatening pounding during the melodic sections. Vokills are outstanding, spewing many sewerous gutturals, enraged grunts and piercing howls, with the odd goregurgle now and then.
Some of the stuff on here has a similar feel to Black/Death overlords Incantation, perhaps brutal French terrorists like Petrified and Hysteria. A few bits recall old Suffocation, some of the more ultra blasting parts remind me of brutal upstarts Dislimb or even Indonesian freaks Bloody Gore. When they allow their songs to breathe the most epic of their riffs remind me of Borknagar. The ways in which they employ melodic techniques and their effective use of light and shade is similar to early Gorguts. The vokills eruct all manner of unnerving sounds with ease, the low ones resembling a gruffer Devourment with a lot of Carcass phlegm. Occassionally, the grunts take on an inhuman style akin to that of Czech Grind nutters such as Negligent Collateral Collapse or French cavemen Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition, but without their prominent use of pitchshifter and effects. The heinous screaming is like a cross between Squash Bowels and Captain Cleanoff, at its most intense when heard alongside the growls and rants during the multi layered vokill assaults.
A very good production job ensures that everyone's performance ploughs powerfully. Throughout the recording the atmosphere is always infernal, further enhanced by the portentuous cover art and bleak themes. My favourite song is Spell of Miserable Incantation.
All in all, this CD is a marvel of chaotic virtuosity, with attention grabbing songs. The wonderful command of heaviness and melody sees the two expertly weaved together, intensifying each other's impact as they trade places. A well rounded, well oiled set of songs that make for both a bulldozing and interesting listen. It's refreshing to hear a band using such variety and creativity as this, especially in a scene viewed by many as turgid with monotonous chugachug nonsense, obvious song routes and re-recycled cover art. Such scheptical types need look no further than these five tracks. More importantly though, all those who have eclectic tastes in Extreme Metal will love this.
4 and a half out of 5