Album Review: Monoliyth – He Who Kills (Wormhole Death Records)

Melbourne’s Death Metal outfit, Monoliyth, will unleash their second full length album, He Who Kills, on the 22nd August via Wormhole Death Records.

Monoliyth formed in 1998 in Melbourne, Australia, brought to light by guitarist Mick Barr. They dropped an EP called Cosmic Citizens in 1998 and had a classic thrash sound. With the band members at the time also being in other bands, it wasn’t a smooth or focused start for Monoliyth who evolved their sound towards death and brutal death, returning with a demo in 2005 and their debut album, Imminent Demise, in 2007. Despite that album being well received, the band went on hiatus a few years later.

They officially returned in 2016 as Mick Barr pulled a line up together and started getting their name back out there with live shows and tours. That led to them starting to write new material for this album, and now, the culmination of a long and challenging journey sees He Who Kills arrive in August 2025, a whopping 18 years after that debut album.

Continuing with the brutal death metal style, with some technical death elements chucked into the mix, Monoliyth already have a growing reputation for brutality and aggression, on record, and live and He Who Kills will bring that same attitude with it. As founder and guitarist Mick Barr simply states:

“it delivers everything fans have come to expect from the band”.

Monoliyth is Andrew Parkinson on vocals, Mick Barr and Zakk Barr on guitars, Jake Mackin on bass and Tim Wright on drums.

Monoliyth brings us 8 tracks and around 40 minutes of old school extreme death metal to get stuck into. Extreme death metal sums it up nicely as Monoliyth set out their stall with the aggressive opener, Rise Of The Annihilated. It’s fast, blast beat ridden and quite old school. The riffs hit hard, the vocals snarl and spit with some variation in tone to add more spice. There is a solo that is ridiculously fast and fiery, suiting the speed and intensity of the track overall. It’s a strong start to He Who Kills, nothing game changing, but a properly destructive track to blow the cobwebs off.

Paradox comes next offering more of the same – the style is the style, it’s extreme death metal so there is no point in waiting for some mad switch up – it’s not coming. Paradox, like the opener, delivers a million miles an hour rampant metal. Blasting drums and bass lines, speed riffing and viciously growled vocals. Tweaks in tone, shifts in the pace and the melodic stylings of the lead guitar in solos specifically is where the variety comes in. I love the solo on this one – there is a little dual harmonising  and it really fits the song perfectly.

Sanity Unraveled is a long track for this style at 6 and a half minutes but it passes quick. Of course it is brutally heavy but there are some neat switch ups where we get a little bit of groove within the manic maelstrom. The drums are insane – Tim Wright is a beast on the kit. It’s music you will have to pit to – you couldn’t bang your head this fast, for this long, without the risk of serious energy. The deep and dirty tone of the bass and riffs add a lot to the dark and extreme feeling you get while the rasping higher tones on the vocals really add some variety. There is another chunky solo and some seriously cool melodic guitarwork, though even when using melody, Monoliyth sound threatening. Some serious stuff here and that continues into Endless Bleeding.

A nasty title to go with a nasty track as Monoliyth again go for the jugular from the off, and then never let it go, not even for a second. Flurries of frenzied drums and riffs attack your senses while the vocals add tension and brutality. It’s a whirlwind and again, while He Who Kills isn’t going to shake thigs up too much, it’s an insanely good blast of death metal and that’s all you need sometimes.

The Killing Floor is another banger and, being just the shortest song on the album, sees Monoliyth go even faster and even harder. The drums are so impressive and the delivery of the vocals here, becoming almost like a riff in the musical madness is really cool. There are some technical elements here too especially in the slightly off-kilter beat and bass lines. If anything, while it adds some variety, it makes the overall listening experience even more disconcerting. The same can be said for the slightly mad guitar solo which seems to come at you from every direction.

The title track, He Who Kills, is next and I am running out of ways to say it is very fast, very aggressive, heavy and relentless. Well, it is all of those things, with some added stop start stuff – little tweaks within tracks that help prevent any risk of monotony from the incessant blast of violence. There is a moment in this track, leading into the solo that is pure fire – a few seconds of powerful melody and a pace change tat lead the solo, and possibly the best solos on the album, in. I love how the band are finding ways to transition these different solos in. The solo here is very melodic and passionate, but surrounded by madness so those transitions are important and they are super smooth.

Excised Unborn is our penultimate track and no surprises for guessing it’s a very fast and hard track thought the temp is relaxed slightly for a more stomping, grooving start. The big thumps of bass and drums shake your core as the band switch to fast beats, then back to the stomp. Its a cool sound and gets your head and neck working, at least until the pace beats your mobility.

We close He Who Kills out with To Sever…Is To Savor and end the album in the same way we started, but not until we do get a little bit of something different as we start with a bit of a slower guitar melody. The darkness soon surrounds us though as vocals join in, then drums, and as the pace grows, so does the suffocating feeling around us. It’s a dark track, and Monoliyth manage to generate some strong atmosphere in the slightly slower stuff. Of course they let loose too with impressive speed and intensity ripping through us and that speed plays us through to the end.

He Who Kills is not for the faint hearted, or the experimental really. It’s old school, fast and heavy blasting death metal on the extreme edge. There is creativity and variety in the songs, but only just in spots and usually in tweaks in pace, beat or solo style, as for the most part, Monoliyth seem intent on killing their drummer, or snapping our necks. I said it a few times already, but while this is not game changing, or genre expanding in any way, it is a solid as a rock, slab of intense death metal and sometimes, a lot of the time, that’s all you need. If you like your metal filled with blast beats and aggression, look no further.

Preorder He Who Kills from Monoliyth on Bandcamp, here.

Track List:

1 – Rise Of The Annihilated
2 – Paradox
3 – Sanity Unraveled
4 – Endless Bleeding
5 – The Killing Floor
6 – He Who Kills
7 – Excised Unborn
8 – To Sever… Is To Savor

Monoliyth Links

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