BravePicks 2018 - MONSTROSITY's The Passage Of Existence #28
December 3, 2018, 5 years ago
Another gruelling year of heavy metal debauchery is almost over! Killing is our business ... and business is good! And this year the metal scene killed it with a myriad of heavy intrigue! So the votes are in and the compiling is complete! It's time to crown the winners and call out the the disappointments.
So who will be our #1? You’ll find out as we count down the BravePick Of 2018 each day in December! And our devout scribes killed it as well, putting their collective metal minds together to build the ultimate lists including individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), Top 3 Concerts, What/Who Needs To Stop In 2018? and Metal Predictions For 2019. All will be showcased come the New Year!
'Tis the season to commence the good, bad and ugly of 2018! On with the cream of this year's crop!
BravePicks 2018
28) MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence (Metal Blade)
“It took forever, but we finally got it out,” proclaimed Monstrosity drummer Lee Harrison to BraveWords scribe Aaron Small in regard to the September release of The Passage Of Existence, via Metal Blade Records. Much more than just another death metal album, The Passage Of Existence marks the first new music from Tampa, Florida’s Monstrosity in 11 years; in fact it’s the follow-up to Spiritual Apocalypse, issued way back in 2007.
With Lee being the only original member of Monstrosity in the current lineup, he’s the perfect person to ask, why is now the right time of the return of Monstrosity? “To be honest with you, that’s just how long it’s taken me to get it all together and get it out. Basically, we did some touring between 2007 and 2010. We had just come off a big run right before we recorded Spiritual Apocalypse – 33 shows in Europe. Then we did a Vital Remains tour; we went to Mexico City and did some shows with Marduk. In 2010 we did our last shows, as far as serious touring. I wanted to take the band off the road and just write the record. I didn’t want to try and do both at the same time; I didn’t want to water it down. I wanted to create a little momentum and get the band concentrating on writing the record.”
“In 2011, I wrote the first song which was ‘Eyes Upon The Abyss’. I basically did my own version of it with guitars, bass, a little scratch lead, and all my drum parts; I really didn’t have vocals, I pretty much did it instrumental. Then I sent that off to (Monstrosity guitarist) Matt Barnes, and he sent me back a click and a guitar of his version. So, I poured that into my computer and did some drum machine parts to it. From there, me and (Monstrosity’s other guitarist) Mark English started rehearsing that version. Basically, the way we work is we have everything tabbed out on the guitars, so you don’t have to sit there and show somebody their part; they can read it.”
“The second song was ‘Kingdom Of Fire’, that was Mark English’s song. He came in with a bunch of riffs, we more or less tore it apart and rebuilt it again; there was a lot of that going on. That was how the ball got rolling. From there, we started having more ideas. Matt Barnes sent out ‘Cosmic Pandemia’. Me and Mark English took that and rehearsed it week in and week out. We shaped it up with some small changes to the melodies and structure. I had some of my songs, it was pretty even between all of us, and I wanted it to be that way; those guys are shredders!”
Read the entire feature here.
BravePicks 2018 Top 30
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28) MONSTROSITY – The Passage Of Existence (Metal Blade)
29) GRUESOME – Twisted Prayers (Relapse)
30) DIMMU BORGIR - Eonian (Nuclear Blast)
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