Imperial Doom

Though primarily known for the connection between themselves and Cannibal Corpse, thanks in no small part to George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, the Floridian death metal band Monstrosity surely had themselves a smoking hot debut album under their belt. Though both bands sported equally talented musicians in their prime (and even still today), Lee Harrison and company are sonically pretty far removed from what Cannibal would wind up accomplishing over their storied career, with 1992's Imperial Doom featuring this distinction.

For the most part, Imperial Doom keeps the workings of pure death metal, being pretty firmly rooted in its thrash origins without directly toeing the line like Sadus, Atheist, Epidemic and crew would do during this period. Instead, Monstrosity took a different approach to the formula, and the music presented here is quite technically dense. Odd time signatures and strange riff patterns do run abound on this offering, but are not intentionally wankerous (looking at you, Archspire) and here only serve to enhance the guitar riffs served by Jason Gobel (who had cut his teeth with Cynic) and Jon Rubin (a brief member of Malevolent Creation), which often jump between technical brevity and classic death metal brutality.

Mark Van Erp, another Cynic alum, is very present on this album, as his bass is quite prominent in the mix on this record, even getting moments to shine on "Vicious Mental Thirst" right before leading into one of the sickest classic death metal riffs ever written. Couple this with Lee Harrison's clearly jazz-informed, almost free-style drumming ("Horror Infinity" features some very interesting fills, for example), and you've got yourself one hell of a rhythm section. Finally comes the iconic roar of the neck himself, George Fisher, whose performance absolutely fits in this album's context. His growl has a dynamic quality to it, rather than the one-dimensional "gurg gurg" of pretty much all modern death metal, and he lets out some pretty vicious high screams, like on "Final Cremation" and the ending of "Darkest Dream", quite unlike any other death metal vocalist during the time.

I can't say this album is without its flaws, however. It's pretty easy to find yourself getting lost in the music, and without question a lot of these songs sound similar, to the point where the entire thing pretty much blends together into one big song, a problem all too common with several second-rate-and-below extreme metal bands. This kind of continues to the album's production, which is unfortunately kind of basic and a little overproduced, but that's what you get for 1992 standards. Just about everyone and their dad was recording an album at the infamous Morrisound Studios, and it more than shows here. The instruments sound fine enough, but the super slick production lacks some sort of character and punch. Rawer albums have come out of Morrisound, such as Suffocation's Effigy of the Forgotten, but at the same time it's not very easy to see fairly technical death metal having super poor production. So if anything, my gripes about production are mostly minor.

Monstrosity are a cult band, no question. They aren't nearly as recognized by a plethora of entry-level and sub-entry-level fans of death metal, but they have their place in the lower level underground as one of the best to ever do it. Lee Harrison's band were different enough from the rest of their contemporaries to at least let Imperial Doom sit in a class on its own, an inspiration, I'm sure, to many future death metal musicians.

Before "some kind of a man" with a big neck took over the reputation of singing about fucking corpses, fascination with guts and other such gore excesses after a person increasingly fond of weed and mythomania, this first gentleman joined a band that is even more worth to remind than Cannibal Corpse itself. Of course I am talking about Monstrosity, in which the aforementioned George Fisher (together with the previous band [from which he was nicknamed Corpsegrinder]) took his first steps in death metal style. However, Monstrosity was not worshiped by Fisher itself, because the most important pillar of the group in the following years turned out to be drummer Lee Harrison. In addition to these two, the line-up also included bassist Mark van Erp, guitarist Jon Rubin and the second session guitarist, Jason Gobel, who were able to record their debut "Imperial Doom". So, as it quickly turned out from "at full speed" cycle.

There is nothing to beat about the bush, "Imperial Doom" is a piece of well-made American death metal. The quintet at such an early stage presented a very high level and its own idea for playing extreme sounds. There may be liked the concert catchiness, brevity or considerable brutality of this material; on the other side: non-obvious technique (a bit reminiscent of Death - somewhere from "Spiritual Healing" period) and a great and transparent production by Jim Morris. By the latter, you can enjoy juicy "fleshy" guitars sound, strongly extended bass (with interesting patents - Mark came from Cynic), sophisticated blasting/mid paces by Harrison and George's mighty growling/screams - and this does not exhaust the subject of these musicians' skills and the overall sound of the whole cd. Confirmation in the songs are, for example, rushing and varied in relation to each other "Ceremonial Void", "Vicious Mental Thrist" (the most extensive), "Horror Infinity", the title track, "Final Cremation" or "Definitive Inquistion", although as it happens with pretty consistent albums...virtually every song should deserve a mention here. The only drawback that comes to my mind after listening to "Imperial Doom" for a long time is a rather modest number of Jason Gobel's solos - except that this is the fault of my sick preference for adoring (early) Cynic.

The first album from Monstrosity belongs to a very successful release. By this cd, the Americans showed themselves as a conscious band with their own ideas for playing extreme music. It's a pity that "Imperial Doom" has not gained even more cult.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2022/02/monstrosity-imperial-doom-1992.html

Monstrosity are perhaps more celebrated for their second LP and masterstroke of technical death metal in ‘Millennium’ (1996), but their debut, 1992’s ‘Imperial Doom’ is their most quintessentially death metal offering. Although chiefly remembered today as the album that launched Corpsegrinder upon the world, this album deserves to be celebrated for so much more besides. When using words like “purity” to describe a death metal album we tend to call to mind the blunt directness of Master, or the overt simplicity of Obituary. But death metal is at heart a more complex beast than such distilled violence

There is order in the chaos. And that’s certainly the case for Monstrosity’s first offering, which eschewed the growing regal tendency of a Morbid Angel, the complex jazz of Atheist, or the back to basics thrash of a Massacre. Instead, Monstrosity offer us a perfect brew of bluntness mixed with complexity. Thrash riffs breeze by in wave after wave of violent speed, finding their flow constantly interrupted by choppy, chromatic riffs that mark significant – and frequent – tempo shifts spread across each track.

In short this is something of a hybrid between the more thrash orientated style of the Florida scene and the mechanical hardcore infused sonic blades of Suffocation. The warm Morrisound mix gives it a more organic feeling than the colder offerings coming out of New York and Chicago at the time, but the percussive tendency is highly visible across this album. It finds its closest analogue in Malevolent Creation, who were attempting a similarly broad survey of death metal at the time, combining the fluid, flowing melodic threads that attempt to articulate themselves over the course of an entire piece in spite of the schizophrenic foundations they arise from. This is a hacked up and mutilated approach to song writing, the beginnings of death metal’s early forays into the dense musicality that is known for today.

For my money Monstrosity were more successful at this approach than Malevolent Creation however, knitting the two competing elements of flowing momentum and stilted disorientation into a unified work of multifaceted death metal with a strong sense of forward motion. One can already hear the more technical elements that would later define this artist’s output, most notably in the rhythm section, where intricate basslines resituate the impact of individual guitar riffs, and drums force violent accents onto every transition with bravado. Even the vocals offer a balance of animalistic rage and measured aggression, with lyrics being easily audible, and delivered in creative rhythmic punches which are set alongside the more primal delivery of elongated screams, signifying moments of particular drama. All this makes for a comprehensive and surprisingly layered work of death metal that was sadly overlooked in favour of the more overt steps toward experimentation that Monstrosity’s contemporaries were taking at the time.

The genre’s antecedents are all visible in this album, but they are integrated into a fully matured and sui generis form of extreme metal. One that had not yet taken the next leap forward as many of their contemporaries were attempting to do at the time. An endeavour that would eventually lead to all manner of prefixes deployed to describe the novel sounds buried within new releases: technical, progressive, doom, blackened. But Monstrosity were not backward looking, they were not screaming for a simpler time and begging for us to return to first principles. They offered nuanced and deeply layered works in their own right. For that reason their appeal remains understated, subtle, but no less rewarding as a result.

Originally published at Hate Meditations

Monstrosity's debut full length 'Imperial Doom' is quite simply heads down, pure death metal if you've ever heard it. Everything that's been associated with the genre, from the deep growls to the dramatic drumming, the busy guitars and the complex song structures and uneven tempo switches, is there, and there's nothing but that in copious amounts. Every song is clinical riffing featuring fast moving power chords, single note articulations up and down the fret-board, lots of palm muting, a bit of soloing here and there in typical delay-laden Floridian style. About every song contains the now-typical-for-death-metal riff presentation with one rhythm guitar introducing a riff before all the instruments come back in to join, and it should be said it's done with accuracy and oomph, the one around the middle of 'Immense Malignancy' as a good example.

The good thing is Monstrosity make an effort to create momentum in the songs. They'll intentionally seek accent-emphasizing riffs with often a couple of notes or power chords highlighted by the drums (two hard snare or cymbal hits to offset the rhythm) at the tail giving those riffs a percussive quality and helping them stick out from the standard rhythmic continuance. Although the album does also feature more linear go-ahead death metal. Some riffs in particular will really shine as they're melodically peculiar and will be immediately singled out by the listener, when the surrounding environment is constant aural assault with a very homogeneous texture and feel. The most iconic example of that would be the savory sinister riff at 1:16 in the opening track in all its doomy gloom.

Other riffs contribute rather to the feel of death metal grandeur the album is clearly attempting to reach, with an album title like 'Imperial Doom' and equally grandiloquent song titles. One example is the one on 'Ceremonial Void' that guides the song into that awe-inspiring lead moment. It's got that dirgy, wide power chord groove to it, punctuated by those big sounding toms. It's quite representative of what the album is about. The album is also home to some of the most impressive technical-sounding riffs of the time, with a few instances scattered around but the one on 'Horror Infinity', with the fast hammer-on action with the clearly audible bass following the guitar, comes to mind.

Production wise, for 1992 this album is impressive and has aged well apart from an aspect or two. The guitars sound utterly generous in gain yet focused and totally intelligible. The bass has that vintage tech-death metal flavor to it as it is well audible throughout the entire album, while being given a nice boost on riffs eager to lift a song with intricate hooks. The vocals overall sound quite good, although by today's standards they surely don't sit perfectly in the mix either. The drums are mixed, production wise: the snare sounds crisp and weighty and if anything it might've been given just a tad too much attention, while the overheads sound clean and distinct. The toms will sound good with guitars playing, and sound a bit cardboardy when played alone, but it's the kicks that are the problem. They sound like, well, balloons (yes balloons) that are somehow resilient enough to produce some attack but still soft and plastic-y. It does take away quite a bit from the feel of the record. 'Imperial Balloon' might be blasphemous, even as a joke, so I won't even mention that. Moving on.

The album can step outside of its routine, although it is very rare. The outro to 'Vicious Mental Thirst' offers the listener a clean guitar tone with a bass-heavy presence and a nice sinister atmosphere to check out, and one might inquire about the paucity of such parts around the record given the impact and relief it supplies.

One of the problems with the album is that it suffers from some of the ills of pure heads down death metal. Most of the riffs that don't immediately stand out - so essentially the blast beat covered ones - just don't add value to the songs as they settled for tremolo picking chromatic redundancy as a habit. The riffs tend to repeat very similar consecutive note patterns, and it really does impact the listener's experience as those weak patterns become this sort of background noise after little time, especially with the systematic blasting recurrence. 'Imperial' either could've been more consistent with just continuous riff excellence to keep the listener hooked; which for such a monochromatic/homogeneous style is probably mandatory; or they could've injected a bit more color and contrast (like that ominous clean guitar outro, or further lead experimentation) to at least produce breaks between the riffs and help the whole stick out more.

This is surely a fan favorite and a seminal record for the genre that was greatly impressive at its time of release, but it still needs to be judged by universal and timeless criteria for the music that it ultimately is, and it is guilty of being centered around one concept and I would say not always delivering on the riff quality within that one concept. Some riffs are superb, a lot of riffs are good, but some are flat out background rumble, and that definitely slows down the momentum of the album and taints it with an occasional mediocrity that pulls the album down inextricably.

From the cauldron of death metal that was Florida in the 1990s came many bands including Obituary, Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Death.  During this time, record labels like Roadrunner and Earache (Nuclear Blast showed up late) were pouncing on every death metal band in sight.  Of all the bands from this scene, Monstrosity, formed by George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher in 1990, was one of the most fierce and technical.

Despite the relatively different style of their music, Monstrosity never gained popularity beyond the underground tape traders because of when they released their first album.  In 1985, the classic thrash metal band Exodus released their debut album Bonded By Blood.  If this album had been released when it was supposed to be (in 1983 or 84), Exodus would've probably been in the Big 4 of thrash metal.  However, they missed the time slot by a couple years, causing them to be in fifth place.  Like Exodus, one of the main reasons Monstrosity is never included among names like Morbid Angel, Deicide, Obituary, and Death is because of their late arrival to the scene in 1992 when they finally released their first full-length, Imperial Doom.  The fact that it took them four years to release their second full-length didn't really help their case.

Imperial Doom is like any other old school death metal album.  It's a chaotic blur of fast riffs with flourishes of technicality and occasional riffs that stand out among the fury.  Taking on a Morbid Angel approach, Monstrosity unleashed nine tracks of superb death metal equipped with classic Dan Seagrave artwork.  However, unlike Morbid Angel, it had less memorable riffs.  The vocals (courtesy of Corpsegrinder) sound almost exactly like David Vincent of Morbid Angel, and the guitar is rhythmically identical to most tracks off of Altars of Madness.  In other words, there is clearly a lot of Morbid Angel worship here, making this album, again, more forgettable by the death metal scene.

Unless absolutely necessary, I'm not one to criticize bands for sounding like other bands.  I wouldn't go as far as to say that Monstrosity is a clone band because they gave the Morbid Angel sound a little more of a technical edge, something that Monstrosity is known for.  It's not like Monstrosity sat down and listened to Blessed Are the Sick on repeat before going into the studio.  Their technicality was most prominent on Millennium, their second full-length, but one is able to see it evolving even on their most primitive album.

Riff-wise, this album is full of them.  I never noticed all of the riffs on here my first couple of times listening, but upon my third listen, I was noticing more and more riffs with every track.  This is unfortunate, as we all love records that "show us the way" instead of having us need to listen three or four times in order to get anything out of it (Monstrosity's Spiritual Apocalypse is like this).  However, once the listening process is over, in comes satisfaction as you start to notice delicious riff after delicious riff.  The most noticeable riff is in "Final Cremation," a staple for this band when playing live.  This song is usually everyone's' favorite track from this album, and it makes sense because it has a lot of riffs that stand out from the noisy chaos.  Also, it's the second-to-last song on the album, making it even more noticeable.

Along with in-your-face riffs, the songwriting isn't bad either.  There are cool interludes ("Vicious Mental Thirst") that captivate the listener with their atmospheric eeriness.  These interludes also add a lot of depth, not only to that song, but to the album overall.  There are a lot of great leads and solos scattered throughout the album, something else that Monstrosity is known for.  Hopefully it is obvious to everyone reading this why solos are important to this genre, but these solos are different.  Sure, Death and Morbid Angel solos were fairly neoclassical, but Monstrosity's solos are just straight up awesome.  They're both melodic and chaotic when necessary as well as fast.

With everything in place vocally amd musically, that brings us to production.  Morrisound Studios has worked with some of death metal's finest bands such as Brutality, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Obituary, Death, Deicide, Suffocation, Malevolent Creation, and many more.  For an OSDM release, this record has outstanding production, and that's all thanks to Morrisound Studios.  Everything can be hard clearly, there isn't much feedback, and the original, raw brutality still remains.

Monstrosity built themselves a great foundation on which to build a discography.  It's unfortunate that it took them so long to release a second release because by then, their fanbase nearly dissolved.  Nevertheless, Imperial Doom remains a classic to this day.

Overall Rating: 91%

Originally written for themetalvoid.wordpress.com

It's astonishing that "Imperial Doom," a gem in early US Death Metal, has garnered so few reviews here. This album, emerging from the fertile grounds of Florida's Death Metal scene, is criminally undervalued. I really hope that it's only a matter of time before it receives the widespread acclaim it rightfully deserves.

My first encounter with this LP was back in '93 at a local record store, during my teenage years. Decades later, my enthusiasm remains unwavering for its grandiose riffs and explosive blast beats. What truly sets "Imperial Doom" apart is the plethora of killer riffs. It's a testament to the album's quality that pinpointing just a few highlights feels almost reductive. Nevertheless, the riff at 01:10 in "Horror Infinity" and the deceptively simple yet impactful one at 01:39 in "Final Cremation" are prime examples of the album's brute force. For an experience akin to a sonic obliteration, I recommend "Immense Malignancy," a personal favorite and a showcase of the album's raw power.

The Morrisound production stands the test of time even by modern standards. The guitar tones are robust and crunchy, the drums deliver a relentless assault, and Corpsegrinder's vocals on this album are, to my ears, among his best. The mastering preserves the dynamics superbly – a welcome reprieve from the overly compressed productions that often plague modern metal. It's baffling why "Imperial Doom" doesn't receive the same recognition as, say, the early works of Cannibal Corpse. While I'm an avid fan of Cannibal Corpse, I believe that this album surpasses at least their first two releases with its sheer ferocity and craftsmanship.

As much as I do enjoy their debut Imperial Doom, I've got to admit that Monstrosity were one of the first Florida death metal artists to come along without a distinct identity unto themselves. Formed in 1990, several years after many of their peers were assembled, the sound on offer here was a middle ground between Morbid Angel, Deicide, Malevolent Creation and Nocturnus, with perhaps a sliver of overseas influence via Pestilence. That said, what they might have lacked in originality they would compensate for with tight writing, technical ability, intriguing Dan Seagrave cover art, and a professional mix courtesy of Tom Morris at Morrisound. While this is certainly not the most memorable efforts in the genre's formative years, it holds up rather well in comparison to much of this band's discography.

Yes, this was the album that would introduce us to the blunt and brutal vocals of 'Corpsegrinder', George Fisher, who would go on to much larger success replacing Chris Barnes in Cannibal Corpse. You get a pretty good idea of his percussive, battering ram style here, set perfectly against the instruments, but the real spotlight falls upon the work of guitarists Jason Gobel and John Rubin; and the thundering footwork of Lee Harrison, yet another drummer to prove he could run alongside the bigger names (Lombardo, Hoglan, Sandoval). The riffs here, while often lacking immortal or amazing patterns, are constantly churning and broiling along with a good deal of choppy variation and skill, to provide the audience with 35 minutes of entertainment that would undoubtedly thrill fans of Blessed Are the Sick, Legion, and The Key, not to mention the then budding Cannibal Corpse themselves, who were in effect quite cruder than what is on display through this debut.

Imperial Doom does lack for some of the character that most of the other Florida bands were exuding through individual tracks. There is no "Body Bag", "Chapel of Ghouls", "Pull the Plug" or anything like that, but it's incredibly consistent, and the band instantly goes for the throat to prove what they're all about, with a title track that scales from a bull rush of an intro to a furious blast beat broken down into winding, juggernaut rhythms and later a slower, morbid drawl. They continue to pace themselves well through "Definitive Inquisition", "Immense Malignancy" and "Vicious Mental Thirst", all of which exhibit considerable effort, taut and effective leads and a literal barrage of what could then be considered technical structure. There is often a primitive, underlying pattern of start/stop which doesn't always create worthy transitions as the band are storming from one of the myriad guitar patterns to the next, but I can't think of a full moment here which evokes anything resembling exhaustion or ennui.

In fact, though I've enjoyed a few of their albums since this one, I would have to hold this as the pinnacle of quality and functionality throughout their career. Corpsegrinder has put out some better performances through Cannibal Corpse, but I did prefer his style to Monstrosity's later front men like Jason Avery (not that they were at all ineffective). Imperial Doom is not a first rate offering, but it stands alongside Malevolent Creation's The Ten Commandments as one of the more reliable second stringers of the period, losing little to none of its aggression and abrasion throughout the decades since. Concentrated, concise brutality with well spun lyrics, this was certainly a rock solid addition to Nuclear Blast's early catalog, and a band that could have easily competed in the big leagues with some slightly more memorable songwriting.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

I really love this album. It is quite a masterpiece. I am extremely impressed by the drumming for the most part. Lee Harrison is just totally awesome on this! Yes, I believe this album has the best blast beats ever. I have never heard blast beats executed so perfectly in my life. From the first track to the last track, they are done extremely well. I really dig the drummer of this band. The title starts off with George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher’s screaming along with blast beats and a really awesome guitar sound. Corpsegrinder’s vocals are pretty powerful on this track. The guitar riffs are absolutely awesome on this. As for the bass, yes I can hear it and it sounds pretty damn cool.

Definitive Inquisition is the best track on the entire album. It begins with the guitars and drums going and then all of a sudden there’s an explosion sound in there. This track yet again has some really awesome blast beats. There’s really nice drum fills on this track. The blast beats are just totally awesome. The bass is pretty clear on some parts of this song. I really like it. The guitar solo is the best on this one. Nice use of the whammy bar is used during the beginning of the guitar solo. Ceremonial Void features some awesome blast beats and drumming once again (the double bass pedal and china crash is put to good to use on this one) as well and they sound really well as Corpsegrinder vocalizes with them. I think is a really great track on this album. There is one scream Corpsegrinder does that he would do on future Cannibal Corpse albums he would do later on in his career.

The other tracks are pretty damn cool. I dig the riffs, vocals and of course the drumming. It all sounds fast and heavy, I like that. I like the cymbal work in Immense Malignancy. The blast beats of course are really in place on this song. There are a lot of blast beats on this one. The china crash is used several times on this one. Vicious Mental Thirst has the best double bass pedal work. There is also one part in this song where the bass is extremely clear. I think there’s a mini bass solo thrown in there. I like how Vicious Mental Thirst fades out. Burden of Evil begins with some really great blast beats. The china crash once again is put to great use. The double bass pedal work also sounds terrific. The vocals on here top notch as well. I really like the guitar solo in this song. It sounds like a pretty difficult guitar solo.

Horror Infinity and the last two tracks are pretty damn sweet. Horror Infinity starts out slow at first, but it begins to pick up after a while and goes into an awesome fast death metal assault. The guitar solo comes a bit early in this song and it sounds pretty good. There is a little bit of technical guitar work in this song. As for the last tracks, they sound really excellent, most definitely Final Cremation.

The drumming is really awesome on all of the tracks. There is not one moment on this album where the drums sound bad. The blast beats are done with such great precision, they executed extremely well. If you’re looking for an album with the best blast beats, get this one. You will know what I mean. This is a highly recommended album.

I am firmly of the opinion that George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher has been wasting his time with Cannibal Corpse for years, as Monstrosity was and still is the better band of the two. This album alone proves that. His vocals are better on this album, as they are deep and guttural yet relatively coherent, unilke his current gig. And musically, Monstrosity are top notch as well, no comparison.

This album starts off abruptly, with full-on blasting and one of Fisher's patented blood-freezing shrieks, a jarring intro to an excellent album chock full of strong riffs and soloing. This one track alone will wake up even the soundest sleeper in the AM! The rest of the album follows suit with quality death metal in the classic Florida vein, with high levels of musicianship (especially the guitarists), pounding double bass drumming and a variety of tempos as well as the usual blasting. The production could have been a little thicker, with a better drum and bass sound, but it still sounds good enough so that you can get into it.

Drummer Lee Harrison wrote the lyrics, as did Gene Hoglan with Dark Angel back in the day, and they were horror/SF-oriented as opposed to mindless gore lyrics like CC, and were actually somewhat more abstract than you'd imagine. Interesting reading in any event. "Imperial Doom" is highly worth your time, so either buy or download and see what I mean.