No Fealty

In The Shadow Of The Monolith

Written by: PP on 23/09/2013 18:16:09

Meet what is undeniably the most abrasive, uncompromising record out of the Danish metal scene in 2013: "In The Shadow Of The Monolith" by Copenhagen based newcomers in No Fealty. Formed from the ashes of Thought Police Brutality, the trio of Tobias, Jon, and Jakob recruited ex-Stream City/Hexis bassist Søren as well as a new vocalist in the form of Morten, and set out to record an album that sounds and feels like a steamroller filled with dynamite forced itself into your ear shortly before exploding to pieces of dark, brooding chaos. No wonder the band is starting to create waves in the Copenhagen underground scene as of late.

If that sounds like much, then expect more than what I can possibly put on paper. "In The Shadow of The Monolith" combines elements of Napalm Death-style brutal grindcore with the sheer intensity and relentless feeling of the most chaotic of crusty hardcore punk bands. For 12 tracks spread across just under 27 minutes, the band celebrates ideals of thrash metal, hardcore punk, and grindcore by forcibly raping your ears with their truly devastating mix of DIY chaos and senseless brutality. How they've managed to put down a record this genuinely brutal and filled with insanity is beyond me, but yet the result is something more than just brutal heaviness. There's an ever-present sense of structure and a decided goal in their music, evident in the many tempo shifts into slower sequences ("The Emperor Is Laughing (While You Are Making Plans)" for example) that burst out into manic, crusty sequences shortly after.

For a DIY record the soundscape is surprisingly clear, even if a little polish wouldn't hurt the expression (see: modern Napalm Death production on "Utilitarian"). In any case, whether you like this or not will more than ever come down to a simple fact: where do you draw the line between music and pure noise? Can pure noise even be music? Listening to "In The Shadow Of Monolith", I have to go with yes. Yes it is. Gloriously dark, crusty, brooding music.

7

Download: Deprivation,
For the fans of: Napalm Death, Thought Police Brutality, Hexis
Listen: Facebook

Release date 09.08.2013
Angry Music Records / 5 Feet Under Records / TNSRecords / Gheea Music / Break The Silence Records / Swarm of Nails

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