Monstrosity - Screams From Beneath the Surface
Within the larger scope of the nascent Tampa, Florida death metal explosion of the early 1990s Fort Lauderdale’s Monstrosity has sturdily remained hidden despite pooling talent and sharing membership with its more popular brethren. Whereas Cannibal Corpse, Cynic, Death, Deicide, Malevolent Creation, Morbid Angel, and Obituary all went on to achieve great success Monstrosity always was one step behind, always on the cusp of something bigger but never quite getting there. Perhaps this is due to the sporadic nature of their output (this is only the third record since 2003’s “Rise to Power”) or their singular focus on quality over quantity. Monstrosity is to Florida as what Gorgasm is to Chicago, Illinois – a respected institution who illustrious career and influence reverberates farther than the extent of their recorded output. They never were innovators but always pushed to refine and elevate the artform and the design. “Screams From Beneath the Surface” is Monstrosity’s first in eight years, and their seventh overall, in a turbulent 35-year career. From the sound of it Monstrosity has no intention of going anywhere and is bloodthirstier than ever.
In 2021 Monstrosity was witness to a seismic personnel shift with the sudden ousting of long-time frontman Mike Hrubovcak, lead guitarist Mark English, and bass guitarist Michael Poggione. This marked the recruiting of journeyman frontman Edwin Webb (who, over twenty years and about as many pounds ago, fronted counterfeit versions of Diabolic on “Infinity Through Purification” and Massacre on “Back From Beyond”, both of which continue to live in infamy), Huntsville, Alabama-based guitarist Matthew Barnes (who's a key figure in the less traditional death metal acts Chaos Inception and Quinta Essentia) remains from the prior album and Justin Walker provides what's described as "additional" guitars, whereas in the live arena he's substituted by former guitarist Samuel Molina - and heralding the restoration of the “Imperial Doom” rhythm section with the return of original bass guitarist Mark van Erp. Van Erp is a legend of the early Florida metal scene who was in both the seminal Cynic as well as the much smaller (but not any less important) Solstice. After all Monstrosity was formed when Harrison and van Erp left Malevolent Creation acrimoniously at the end of the 1980s. Webb, to his everlasting credit, probably sounds closer to Jason Avery (and, thus, by extent, George Fisher) than Hrubovcak ever did. The two-album frontman curse continues to haunt Monstrosity and, thus far, has not been broken.
‘Banished to the Skies’ sounds like a remnant from the “Spiritual Apocalypse” and “The Passage Of Existence” days in that it’s a mid-paced intricately layered lurcher with a heavy progressive bend bookended by clean guitars and ambient sounds that’s not heard anywhere else on the album. Lead single ‘The Colossal Rage’ is a refreshingly straightforward rager not heard from Monstrosity at least since “Imperial Doom”. It’s not exactly a second coming of ‘Final Cremation’, ‘Dream Messiah’, or ‘Firestorm’ but it’s a solid old school stomper not heard from this band in years. Barnes’ extended melodic solo places it clearly in the modern era while the rest of the song is Monstrosity’s least convoluted in many a moon. ‘The Atrophied’ and ‘The Dark Aura’ could have come from “Millennium” with the latter being reminiscent of the scenic ‘Fragments Of Resolution’. The return of van Erp must have inspired Harrison to revisit the halcyon days. “Screams From Beneath the Surface” sounds closer to “Millennium” than to “Imperial Doom” but the spectre definitely looms large over it. To expect a full return to the “Imperial Doom” days is folly given the level of technical skill of the present membership but regardless it’s a welcome return to familiar sounds of old. Compared to the last “Screams From Beneath the Surface” has far more condensed, highly efficient songwriting and packs the punch the last record sorely lacked. The immediacy and urgency heard and felt here has not been present in the last two records.
On the production front this seems to be a concerted effort to marry the ravenous brutality of the first decade with the more cerebral, progressive direction of the last two. The drums and bass guitar were recorded at Audiohammer in Sanford, Florida and the remainder in the hallowed halls of Morrisound Studios in Tampa. This is easily the bass-heaviest Monstrosity record since “In Dark Purity” and the clinical drum production is the logical evolution of what was started on “Rise to Power”. Fairly expected it’s a bit overly clicky and tinny but that’s par for the course with Audiohammer productions and Jason Suecof, specifically. Van Erp is clearly heard but don’t expect a full-bodied, gut-wrenching tone as on Gorefest’s “Erase”, any Bolt Thrower or Incantation record, “The Hidden Lore” by Iniquity, or “Nespithe” by Demilich.
In terms of production we hold the first three records in high regard, each for different reasons. “Imperial Doom” had the heft, “Millennium” was dry to the point of being overproduced, while “In Dark Purity” had the full body, weight, and bass-dominance. “Cabinet” from Spawn Of Possession is a landmark example of how the overly dry “Millennium” production was taken into the modern age. From the primordial early Dan Seagrave art of “Imperial Doom” to being one of the early adopters of digital art with “Millennium” and the thematically-linked “In Dark Purity” and the compilation “Enslaving the Masses” Monstrosity has always staunchly done its own thing. “Rise to Power” heralded the dawn of a new age with its Jacek Wiśniewski rendering. “The Passage Of Existence” brandished a grand vista of stygian horrors from Timbul Cahyono. He returns here but the innate promise of the prior canvas isn’t delivered upon. This sigil-like drawing is expertly crafted but somehow it’s not the spectacular vista we were expecting.
“Screams From Beneath the Surface” has the unenviable task of following up of what are two of Monstrosity’s most ambitious and refined efforts. Whereas “Spiritual Apocalypse” and “The Passage Of Existence”harkened closer to latter-era Death and even Watchtower in terms of convoluted and winding song arrangements with a clear emphasis on solos this is an effort squarely aimed at those pining for the pre-“Rise to Power” days. It’s hardly a throwback record in the way it’s conventionally understood this one is refreshingly stout, robust, and straightforward. While Monstrosity’s detour into a more cerebral and refined direction with an evolved sense of melody was something to behold and to be commended “Screams From Beneath the Surface” brings back some of that old school grit and bite. The production is both a blessing and a curse as it’s the culmination of an evolution towards clinical overproduction that begun nearly twenty years earlier on the transitional “Rise to Power”. For us Monstrosity was at its most ferocious and commanding on either “Imperial Doom”, “Millennium”, or “In Dark Purity” and the murk, grime, and grittiness of those imperfect, heavy bass-centric productions. More than anything this is a testament to survival and the continued relevance of one of the old guard’s most unsung units. These days Monstrosity might not be the fastest, heaviest, or most technical around but far and few tower as ominously as they do.
