Reviews: SAT366
< Обратно к релизу / Back to page
Today we premiere a full stream of Ego Sum Dolor, the fourth album to emerge, after four years of work, from the Saint Petersburg death metal band Monastery Dead. It will be co-released on March 31st by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Australis Records (Chile).
If your Latin is rusty, the album’s title translate to “I am pain”, or perhaps “I am in pain”. Consistent with that title, the concept of the album is described as follows:
This is a story about a man doomed to experience all the suffering and torment destined for him in his life, here and now. He bears the burden of merciless retribution, which, like stigmata, he acquired by birthright, experiences pain and inflicts pain, is obsessed with destruction and destroys himself. His own wounds and those of his victims will never heal and will bleed forever.
Or to put it more succinctly: “The basis of the concept of the release is the idea that the real hell is our current existence on Earth.”
With an inspiration and an outlook such as that, it will come as no surprise that the music itself is tormented, vicious, and punishing on multiple levels. Moreover, the production quality channels the music with both sharpness and distinct separation among the ingredients, but without sacrificing the music’s often brutalizing power.
What might come as a surprise is that this music is about as far from dreary, depressive, or doom-saturated as you could possibly imagine. It is instead an explosive, head-spinning extravaganza.
The fine-tuned clarity of the production fuels the darting and delirious frenzies in the riffing and the screaming contortions of the guitar-leads in ways that make them even more crazed and searing, and it delivers the turbulent bass lines and furious percussive assaults with plundering force. But the clarity also puts a spotlight on the eye-popping technical skill of the performers and the intricate plotting of the songwriting.
You’ll discover right from the start that Monastery Dead‘s conception of pain isn’t like the agony and oppressiveness of a cancer ward. They go fast, and they’re very adept at going fast, all the better to whip up hurricanes of savagery and mind-bending instrumental roller-coaster rides.
And yes, you’ll discover that the band make sharp twists and turns in the blink of an eye, and they also infiltrate their blazing and battering assaults with fluid, swirling, clarion-clear soloing that seizes attention in its contrasts with the rapidly scissoring and slashing riffage and the highly mechanized munitions masquerading as drumwork. (The soloing wouldn’t be out of place in a prog-metal band, and inclines toward the exotic in its melodies, yet seems comfortably at home adding its gleaming filigrees to this blazing and berserk death metal).
Adding to the exhilaration of the music, the vocals come forth like the enraged, belly-deep growls of a ravenous beast, a torment of yet another kind — a very dangerous kind. Like his bandmates, vocalist Anton Malov is also capable of going very fast in the ejection of his gritty barks, and he elevates into the howls of a rabid wolf.
We’ve already noted that Monastery Dead revel in bringing sharp twists and turns into their music, and in doing that they venture outside the confines of death metal. If you want a standout example of just how adventurous they become, check out the album’s fifth track, “Mindscars“.
They begin that song with crystalline choral voices singing, like a solemn ecclesiastical hymn from many centuries ago, and then follow it with rapidly writhing and squealing fretwork, angry roars, and bursts of obliterating drumwork.
On a dime, they then start switching the tempos and the patterns, with all the instrumentalists going wild in their cavorting and combustion, but also with guitars that express suffering in near-hallucinatory fashion, and with bursts of jackhammering punishment. Then comes one of those fascinating guitar solos, slithering like a golden snake and spiraling in splendor, followed by a finale of darting and screaming fretwork and full-tilt drum-fire.
But we don’t mean to suggest that “Mindscars” is an aberration. All these relatively compact songs are head-spinners, all of them capable of flooding the listeners with adrenaline and leaving them wide-eyed at the high-octane exuberance channeled by the band, and at the electrifying ruthlessness of the beatings they administer.
One piece of warning: Ego Sum Dolor is a non-stop spectacle. There’s no point of any significant duration when the band ease back on their wide-open throttle, no real chance for you to take any deep breaths or to calmly reflect on the furious extravagance of what’s happening. Yet the spectacle is so… spectacular… that it doesn’t wear out its welcome, even if it might leave you needing a nap afterward.
This album is likely to appeal to fans of such bands as old-school Suffocation, Immolation, Pestilence, and other bands capable of combining technical mastery and intricacy with savagery, but as noted, they bring in proggy proclivities as well.
Satanath and Australis will release Ego Sum Dolor in a jewel-box CD edition with a 20-page booklet, limited to 500 copies, and also digitally. The cover art is the work of Ivan Stan.
Monastery Dead is a Death Metal band of Russian, that was conceived in 2004 and located in Saint-Petersburg. On March 31st, 2024, the band released their fourth studio album, Ego Sum Dolor.
Monastery Dead, Ego Sum Dolor Review: This review will evaluate every aspect of the album, from its intricate musical composition to its production. Our analysis will provide valuable insights to help you determine if this album is worth adding to your collection.
The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: Features lightning-fast and precise guitar playing, with rapid and slashing riffs, intricate solos, and primitive rhythms that will make your heart pound. The Second Sin, The Vocals: Involve deep-belly growls, that injects the music with a gritty, raw energy reminiscent of a rabid wolf. The Third Sin—The Percussions: Intense and relentless assault of the drums, with blazing strikes and beats.
The Fourth Sin: Overall Discussion: A journey through the darkest corners of the human psych.
From the moment the play button is pressed, I Am Pain bursts through the speakers, assaulting the listener with an electrifying surge of energy and raw brutality from both the instrumentation and vocals.
As you journey through the music of Monastery Dead, the second song, Raptophilia, and the remaining eleven songs take the listener on a dark excursion and tell a story. The album’s central concept is the idea that our current existence on earth is the actual hell, and that we are already experiencing all the torments of hell here and now.
Monastery Dead‘s music is a powerful fruit of art, a display of devilmanship, and the first three sins that will leave any heavy, unrelenting, extreme metal fan in awe—Monastery Dead’s music will surely resonate with you.
Despite their music’s brutalising power, raw intensity, and brutality and a unique blend of dreary, depressive, and doom-saturated elements buried within the band’s musical spectrum. Monastery Dead music’s production and sound quality are crafted to give it a sharpness and distinct separation that enhances the overall listening experience.
With dark lyrics that delve into themes of suffering, despair, and the human condition, music that’s not faint of heart is created. Still, it provides music that’s tormenting, vicious, and punishing on multiple levels.
Monastery Dead‘s music is a stunning and electrifying experience that will leave you breathless. The solid line-up of fruit of art skilled musicians delivers a unique combination of playing their instruments with precision and power, creating a wall of brutal-crushing and mesmerising sound.
The last Three Sins
Let’s discuss the last three sins, our thoughts on Monastery Dead and their Ego Sum Dolor album.
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia: Is that for us, the band’s music is not just something to listen to but an experience that takes the listener on a journey through the darkest corners of the human psyche.
The devilmanship within guitars is mesmerising, adding a technical and intricate layer to the music that keeps the listener engaged. Meanwhile, the vocals are a primal force of nature, unbridled and fierce, like a wild animal stalking through a dark and mysterious forest.
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork:
Draws back to the old-school days.
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish:
Nothing to disrelish within the musical spectrum of Monastery Dead, and their album Ego Sum Dolor.
https://athenaeumofsin.com/monastery-dead-ego-sum-dolor-review/
Monastery Dead es una banda de death metal de origen ruso formada en 2004 por Vadim Nikolaev. Hasta la fecha, la banda cuenta con tres álbumes, tres singles y un video oficial. Desde su fundación, Monastery Dead ha realizado conciertos en su país y en el extranjero, donde ha compartido escenario con bandas como Haemorrhage, Dying Fetus, Fleshless, Amagortis, Debauchery, entre otros.
El nombre de la banda proviene del antiguo concepto legal existente en algunas culturas como la anglosajona (Monastery Death), alemana (Klostertod) o francesa (Mort civile des religieux), entre otras, que era una forma de muerte civil, es decir, la pérdida de la capacidad jurídica de una persona viva. La muerte monástica se producía cuando una persona ingresaba a un monasterio o convento. Al ingresar a la orden religiosa, la persona era considerada legalmente muerta y sus herederos, o el monasterio o convento, heredaban todas sus posesiones.
Ergo Sum Dolor, el tercer disco de la banda, es una coproducción de las casas discográficas Satanath Records (GE) y Australis Records (CL). Las grabaciones estuvieron a cargo de Ivan Dmitriev @ BuzzyLick Studio, mientras que la mezcla y masterización las realizó Dmitry Kim Gerasimov. Este álbum vio la luz el 31 de marzo de 2024, y fue publicado en formatos digital, jewel box (incluye booklet de 20 pág.) y CD (no hay información si se editará en vinilo próximamente).
Para empezar con el disco propiamente tal, podríamos decir que desde el arte de la portada (Ivan Stan), es un disco bien hecho. El primer track, I Am Pain, primer tema de la banda con video oficial (con buena producción y entretenido de ver), da comienzo a un álbum brutal, con buen sonido, riffs pegadizos y cada cierto rato algunos solos de guitarra, batería impecable y una voz gutural bastante clara y poderosa. No se trata de un disco increíble o innovador ni mucho menos. Sin embargo, el disco destaca por la prolijidad en la ejecución de sus músicos.
A medida que avanza el tracklist, se pueden disfrutar introducciones que, en lo personal, trasladan a ambientes eclesiásticos tan putrefactos y sórdidos como de costumbre y que hacen pensar el disco como una airada protesta en contra de una de las plagas más dañinas para la humanidad: El catolicismo.
Jadeos desesperados, cantos gregorianos llenos de dolor, etc., que se pueden apreciar, por ejemplo, en el quinto tema Mindscars (cicatrices mentales), que hace referencia a las secuelas en la salud mental de las personas que han tenido la mala suerte de vincularse con esta institución.
Como punto en contra, totalmente subjetivo, por cierto, me hubiese gustado escuchar un poco más de peso en sus guitarras (el bajo se escucha apenas o no se escucha), lo que le resta agresividad al producto final.
A modo de conclusión y como mencioné anteriormente, se trata de un disco correcto, bien ejecutado y sin mayores pretensiones que publicar un buen disco de death metal clásico, objetivo que se logra absolutamente.
https://www.war-metal.com/2024/04/16/review-monastery-dead-ergo-sum-dolor/