Monomakh - MMXII

It's queer that there's not much accessible information about the rollicking down-tuned cadaver smotherers Monomakh, and it's even queerer that I found them out totally by coincidence and their evil-fraught debut EP ''MMXII'' exploded before my eyes. The Australians are very fond of Incantation, that's quite blatant, and that makes the primary essence of their EP as well, but Monomakh's impious cauldron definitely has bits and pieces of derivative elements spread sparsely, embellishing the main material, and rivets to separate forces together to form one ultimate gloomy combo, putrid and twisted. The scene in Australia is currently forging far more vile and ferocious music than this, but Monomakh's inclinations are really not bent towards being a forceful tide of fierce and feverish ferocity, but rather a forceful tide of monotonous and downright heinous burden, clashing, trudging and wallowing like a bulky cyclopean temple on stunted legs. Aussie's tendencies have always favored the carnal slashes of black/thrash and war metal, but with the shadowy evil we can attain with Monomakh and recent Aussie giants Ignivomous, there's gonna be some altering in the scene.

''MMXII'' is barbaric, percussive and crushing, but first and foremost, it's oppressive. Imagine two monstrously thick blankets encompassing your face, marring your your thoughts and insulating your oxygen - that's what it's like to experience this triumphant bombast of barbarous impiety. For anyone acquainted with recent act Father Befouled, Drawn And Quartered or Ignivomous, or hell, even Incantation for that matter, this shouldn't be too hard to deal with. After all, the music you hear is nowhere near original, so I'm not going to turn on my cheesy histrionics to praise these guys. Principally, the music you deal with here is pretty much a bulkier version of ''Onward To Golgotha'', which is something that I will never get tired of listening, but for innovation freaks, this is not a really intriguing sojourn. Bland would be the wrong word, but when you're delivering angular tremolo bombards and smoldering assaults of pure blackened ash and sulfurous magma, I can't really announce you the most inventive act out there, but I can proclaim you as another hardened bringer of death for a certainty.

Other than the shrouding brilliance it pursues, ''MMXII'' is short, ranging at just about twenty minutes, so the whole epic death metal idea is really missing too. The vocals are subtle, cthtonic utters, sometimes savaged by their own will, and there also seems to be some solid drumming on the EP, even a few brief moments where the whole EP emphasizes on a single dull (but efficient in a way) drum fill. And so, after twnety minutes of suffocating anguish, you come to the end of yet another Incantation worshiper - what are your thoughts? For me, it was a fun venture, as always, yet I still sought some punctual variation and oddity throughout, and painfully, there was none that I could appease myself with. So folks, get this for a brief and primal excursion, and be warned that it serves as nothing else. If you want Incantation other than the band itself, you can opt from the countless retro bands with full-lengths today, but I do have great hope in Monomakh, hope that they will eventually spread out their wings large and brilliant, offering some of the best evil death metal out there. Get going.

Highlights:
Kokytos
Barbaros

Rating: 82,5%