MONSTROSITY - Screams from Beneath the Surface review

 

MONSTROSITY - Screams from Beneath the Surface

Metal Blade Records

So if you're into Death Metal then you know that MONSTROSITY was the band George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher was in before he joined CANNIBAL CORPSE. Now in my not so humble opinion I'll say that the band's full length debut, Imperial Doom, which came out in 1992 on Nuclear Blast Records and it's follow up, Millennium, which came out in 1996 on some obscure label got more sales after George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher left to join CANNIBAL CORPSE. 

There are people out there who think MONSTROSITY's debut is better than George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher's debut CANNIBAL CORPSE album, Vile, from 1996. I tend to have a different opinion on that idea. Be that as it may as far as post "Corpsegrinder" era MONSTROSITY releases go there's five in total. Of that I own only 2003's Rise to Power and my copy is a reissue. I thought album was OK and vocalist Jason Avery did a decent job. 

Fast forward to now and of course MONSTROSITY has gone through more changes. Of course original drummer Lee Harrison is keeping this band alive. Original bassist Mark van Erp returned in 2022. On guitar you've the great Matt Barnes who joined in 2010. Finally there's new vocalist Ed Webb who joined the fold in 2021. So even with all of that I still had my preconceived opinion on what this album was gonna sound like. 

Now if you listen to the opening track, "Banished to the Skies" then yeah you'll think this album is gonna suck. I mean that's what I thought. But then when the second cut "The Colossal Rage" kicks in things really change. Be that two people in this band use to play in MALEVOLENT CREATION I was not shocked to where the sound structure developed into. 

Musically this reminds me a lot of the Bret Hoffman (RIP) era of MALEVOLENT CREATION. At least as a strong influence of course because they still wanna be Florida 1990. To me the combination works well. And as I partially mentioned before Matt Barnes is not just good. I mean the riffage is damm good on these songs. But as far as soloing goes he is a fucking amazing guitarist. 

Finally I have to say Ed Webb is a great vocalist. He comes across almost as if he was from Poland doing Brutal Fuckin Death Metal. But hey he can scream like a motherfucker. Which is why in the end this album is damm good. 

https://www.metalblade.com/us/

LISTEN HERE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73wELS7JayY