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Beware
fools: This motherfucker blew my car speakers, so don’t
make the same mistake. So sudden was the jump in
volume, so violent the increase from silence to like
2,000 decibels, so crushing the first blast that the
first cut titled “Mantra Reverse” will cost me about
$100 if I am cheap. Needless to say I was pissed.
Needless to say, there is no other way to go about it.
I was told this could happen, but what are you gonna
do? Slowly raise the death metal volume? That’s silly.
Swedish death
metal hadn’t gone the exact same path that thrash metal did in
the 90’s but was for sure left moribund for a while after all
the newbies dried out and the flag bearers started churning out
clunkers like that’s what it was all about. In the last few
years the subgenre has been re-hauled though and along with the
mysteriously rejuvenated sound of the veterans have come a long
list of motivated newcomers. Nominon could be
confused as such, but they have been in fact together in one
form or another since 1993. Hardly prolific, Monumentomb
is
only their fourth full-length and it is one of the finest albums
of Swedish death metal in recent memory.
This really
hits the spot. For starters, the riffs are superb. Where others
went the death and roll way Nominon have taken in just a sip of
that (the stunning “Mountain of Hate”, “Undead Beast”) but have
kept the grime and the fury. Mostly guitarists Juha Sulasalmi
and Christian Stromblad concentrate on pure pure classic Swedish
death metal aesthetics, but the fluent melodic solos spice
things up just right. I know the band don’t really consider
themselves as having this Swedish sound, but listening to
Monumentomb nothing else comes to mind.
Speed is of the
essence, but so are the grooves and the counted mid-tempo
moments are glorious. I certainly would have liked to hear more
of that, if not for death metal’s sake at least for contrast and
head-bopping. The start of “Archfiend” for instance, is classic
and so is the one note chunk pre-solo on “Undead Beast”. Talk
about a groove.
If there is a
vast difference between the early Swedish death metal sound and
what Nominon are doing is the technique. Classics from the big
names are their early works, which were primitives slabs. There
lies the difference, Nominon have had seventeen years to improve
and they do good on that point. Monumentomb is perfected Swedish
death metal. It has all come together for this band this time
around.
Extra kudos:
the recording by Tore Stjerna is superb and the artwork by
Chris Moyen is fantastic.
Official Site
MySpace
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