### The Monolith Deathcult: Tetragrammaton

#### 07/06/13 || Lord K Philipson

As great-guy/TMD head honcho (well, he is their commander in charge to me anyways since he’s the only fucken dude I have ever talked to from this bunch of seemingly incredibly fucked up individuals) Michiel Dekker would say: “We’re one of those bands you either love or hate”. Few acts put such a smile on my face as these guys do. From their absolutely brilliant press releases to the overall attitude towards exactly everything (here’s an example). The “fuck you, and then fuck you some more – we do not give a FUCK about what you think” agenda is refreshing. Not many people dare to go through with that and make sure they keep it like that. And I know how much thought is put into their music, how huge an effort is being mustered up with every release. How much they believe and take pride in this entity you know as The Monolith Deathcult (one of the greatest monikers in the game, by the way).

I respect that to an extent far beyond human comprehension. Why? Becoz the similarities to my own way of doing things are uncanny. Great minds think alike and all that jizz, bla bla bla. So, before we move on, feel free stand up, put your hands together and give people like us an honest round of applaud – coz deep inside you know you wanna be like Yours Truly and my magnificent equals.

So, you done yet? Good, then let’s continue with the greatest review you have ever read. Yes? No? Lemon? Yes. No.

Lemme tell you something, TMD is one of the more interesting bands I have in my collection, and they are also one of those bands I truly, truly enjoy listening to – but ultimately I end up giving them too little playtime in my Cerwin Vega’s. It just doesn’t fucken add up. It’s irritating that I don’t blast their discography more often, and I got no relevant explanation as for why, really. It is just plain weird. I believe the fact that I don’t have too much time to just sit down and listen to music these days play a part. I’m sure you’re confused, but it’s becoz I have lawns to mow, toolsheds to paint, fences to build, beer to drink, a garden to take care of, and so on and so forth… You know, the regular death metal stuff that death metal legends do.

This is going extremely well if I may say so.

No matter how many giggles these guys might get ya, no matter how much they might piss you off – there’s no denying there’s some incredible talent and craftsmanship backing everything up when you devour their music. There’s no joking around in that department, sir’s and vaginas. You got full-on brutality that should appeal to each and every death metal fan around (especially if you dig the more American way of the genre). You are also served tons of weird electronics and other things you normally won’t experience in a band whose base is death metal (I’m hardly making a reference to “Idiot Whatever Anus” by Morbid Angel here, thank you).

(you can never use enough of these things)

(see?)

(I could do this all day long)

TMD is not easy to digest, at all. And that is a conscious move on their part, make no mistake about it. Not even Your Hero (me, naturally) likes everything on “Tetragrammaton”. A song like “Todesnacht von stammheim” feels like a 6-minute (Rammstein-goes heavier-metal) filler, but hey – when was the last time an album was released that held absolutely nothing but stellar material from start to finish? Well, lemme tell you – it was on the 12th day of the 12 month of the year 2012. The title of it is “The Cadaverous Retaliation Agenda” and the band is The Project Hate MCMXCIX. Read this and you’ll understand perfection.

You didn’t see that coming, huh?

Anyways, “Tetragrammaton “ is a killer album which shows that you can do a lot with music if you put your minds to it and work hard. More bands should follow TMD’s example. The world would be a much better place if they did.

It’s time to round things off here, ladies. First, check out some more coverage on GD when it comes to The Monolith Deathcult:

A review of ‘The white crematorium’ is to be found in this link. We also discussed ‘Triumvirate’ right here. And last off we interviewed Michiel Dekker some time back.

And with that, I leave you all with blue balls and the score before you head out (or click your way to a purchase) and BUY this muthafucken album:

- Information
- Released: 2013
- Label: Season Of Mist
- Website: www.monolith-deathcult.com
- Band
- Michiel Dekker as The Teacher: guitars (untuned & retuned), Kahler misuse, vox and supreme insanity
- Ivo Hilgenkamp as The New Guy: guitars (tuned), vox and unalloyed sublimity
- Robin Kok: fretted and fake fanned fretless bass, vox and howling insanity
- Carsten Altena aka The Macrobiotic Offline Member: Stalin organ, mammoth orchestral stabs and fiddling vanity
- Sjoerd Visch: drums, bastinado, piledrivers and preternatural serenity

- Tracklist
- 01. Gods Amongst Insects
- 02. Human Wave Attack
- 03. Drugs, Thugs, & Machetes
- 04. Todesnacht von Stammheim
- 05. S.A.D.M.
- 06. Qasr Al-Nihaya
- 07. Aslimu!!! All Slain Those Who Bring Down Our Highly Respected Symbols To The Lower Status Of The Barren Earth