Behold! The Monolith – Architects of the Void
LA metallers return to the fray following the death of founding member
As the first album with new bassist Jason “Cas” Casanova and new vocalist Jordan Nalley, replacing the late Kevin McDace, who took the role of both through the band’s previous two albums, Architects Of The Void does a good job of re-establishing Behold! The Monolith’s role in the sludge underworld. However, there is much more to Architects Of The Void than sludge, as it explores many of metal’s sub-genres throughout it’s seven tracks.
While opener ‘Umbral Vale’ introduces the LA group as purveyors of swamped-down death metal-infused doom, its follower, ‘Philosopher’s Blade’, picks up the pace and sees sinister guitars inject a level of blackened sludge into the fray. The slight Judas Priest-isms of the group’s previous albums have largely been replaced here, as blackened sludge instead cuts into the likes of ‘Philosopher’s Blade’ and ‘Lord Of Bones’. However, the latter of these tracks introduces lead guitar late-on that suggests what could have happened had KK Downing started a doom band post-Judas Priest.
‘The Mithriditist’ sees a bellowing Iommi-esque riff morph into the sort of enchanting subtler section Candlemass would make good use of. Meanwhile,‘Between Oder and the Vistula’ uses a heap of death metal guitars and gritty bellowing to pack one hell of a punch, before the title-track’s 14-minutes combines all of the band’s elements into one, as blackened yells intertwine with doomy guitars and occasional moments of death metal speed.
After being tragically stopped by Kevin McDade’s death during their rise out of LA’s metal underground, Behold! The Monolith have shown here that they’re ready to take on the realm of metal once again. Architects Of The Void is a brutal album that confidently embraces many of metal’s darkest and heaviest sub-genres, without ever fully dropping it’s sludge tag.
8/10
