Album Review: The Monolith Deathcult - V3 Vernedering
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
'V3 - Vernedering: Connect The Goddamn Dots' -to give the album it's full title - is the sixth album from Dutch industrial death metallers The Monolith Deathcult. It is also the third and final part of the V trilogy of albums started with 'V1 - Versus: It Will Burn Us Without Leaving Ash' in 2017 and continued with 'V2 - Vergelding: Dawn Of The Planet Of The Ashes' in 2018.
The Monolith Deathcult formed in 2002 as Monolith releasing debut album The Apotheosis before rebranding as The Monolith Deathcult. Initially more of a brutal death metal band, The Monolith Deathcult have expanded their sound bringing in influences and ideas from outside of metal and incorporated these influences with their death metal origins. Musically 'V3 - Vernedering: Connect The Goddamn Dots' isn’t too different from the other two albums in the V trilogy being an atmospheric mix of death metal and industrial with heavy use of samples and keyboards. One element that has been ramped up is a heavier use of symphonic sounds giving this album a slightly more epic and cinematic feel as well as the bands usual mix of electronic sounds, death metal fury and their cutting sense of humour. Tracks such as Gone Sour, Doomed, Vernedering and They Drew First Blood ramp up the ferocity but mix in a melodic sensibility and as well as some symphonic undertones whilst Blood Libels and L'Ouverture de Morose are slower and more atmospheric and with the use of symphonic sounds are as a result far more epic and expansive sounding.
As a continuation of the V trilogy, 'V3 - Vernedering: Connect The Goddamn Dots' doesn’t deviate from what The Monolith Deathcult have done previously which means that the album does sound a bit on the safe and samey side if you have heard their previous material. It lacks the punch and spark of albums such as III - Triumvirate and Tetragrammaton and for a band that stretches the boundaries of the death metal sound it can end up sounding a bit predictable. It is still some great industrial death metal with samples from political and pop culture figures permeating through the death metal madness and an Alex Jones sound-alike actor popping up throughout the album. 'V3 - Vernedering: Connect The Goddamn Dots' isn’t the best album that The Monolith Deathcult have done but it is still a very solid one. Maybe my expectations were too high and I will come to appreciate this album more in time but as always I look forward to see what the band does next as the band say in their own words “We, THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT, are the new invincible gods and the best is yet to come”
