Artist description Monolith is the missing link between the brutal American deathmetal and the Swedish Gothenburg-sounding deathmetal. If you like eather of them, you'd be a fool missing this!! Trust me!

Music Style Melodic GrindMetal

Artist History It all started back in ‘98 when the constellation, soon to be called Monolith, started to rehearse. The line-up was changing all the time but the founding member Jon Carlestam and Johan Såneson remained and was the core unit during the first year. In October ‘99, Mattias Parnestedt joined and it was at this point the present songmaterial was first put together. Things where happening quite slow but after a year and a half, the first gig was to be announced and the group was in desperate need for a name. Jon came up with the suggestion “Monolith”, which was taken from a Cannibal Corpse song and everybody thought it was a great name. After a couple of local shows, Monolith was already in the top among the local bands and the release of ”The Praetorian Face Damnation” defined their position. The record contains four brutal death metal songs and for the first time monolith had a steady line-up: Mattias Parnestedt - Guitars, Keyboards Johan Sånesson - Guitars Martin Arnoldsson - Vocals Stefan Bratt - Bass Jon Carlesteam - Drums The first record craved a lot of work from all of us and tested our limits, both musically and financially. It is much of a miracle that the recording turn out so well since Martin started in the band just two weeks before the recording and had no prior experience of growling (!). The material on the CD can be described as the missing link between the brutal American death metal and the traditional melodic Swedish death metal. After a year of playing and promoting Monolith went back to the rehearsal room to start working on what turn out to be the Sordid Seasons CD. The idea of creating a solid thing instead of an ordinary demo started to grow within the band and since Stefan Bratt was now in charge of the lyrics, a theme-MCD was planed. The idea was to create a musical epos about life in all contexts and to describe the growth of the single person during a lifetime. The story covers all different eras of life and is supposed to be some kind of reflection of what we all go through in life. Just before the recording of Sordid Season, the founding member Johan Sånesson decided to quit. He still appears with some guitar parts on the recording but now Thomas Ahlgren replaces him. It has proved to be a change for the better and monolith is now better then ever! Monolith Line-Up 2001: Mattias Parnestedt - Guitars Thomas Ahlgren - Guitars Martin Arnoldsson - Vocals Stefan Bratt - Bass Jon Carlestam - Drums

Group Members Mattias Parnestedt - Guitars Thomas Ahlgren - Guitars Martin Arnoldsson - Vocals Stefan Bratt - Bass Jon Carlestam - Drums

Albums Praetorian Face Damnation 2000, Sordid Seasons 2001

Press Reviews Review by Georges Laforet, Pull the Chain Magazine, Belgium: There's absolutley no doubt that we have to deal here with a bunch of talented musicians. Most important, Monolith songwriters have something really intresting and fresh to offer. Thier melodic, ultra heavymetal sounding death metal are quite exeptional in terms of concept, musicianship and structure. Songs have lottsa impact and allow quick access. Guitar acclereations are more than efficient and reenforce the heavymetal filliation. Vocals are grunted and reclect the Swedish deathmetal special trademark. There was no way in hell, I knew i was going to like "pretorian face damnation". Even at the first listening, you realize Monolith plays majestic swedish deathmetal with tons of intresting influences. If you only by one demo of this issue, it must be this one - Georges Laforet Review by Burn the Sun, USA: I love getting demos from Sweden. The Praetorian Face Damnation is Monolith's first demo, but you could have fooled me. This young band shows an uncanny knack for knowing what it takes to write catchy songs. The four songs show a nice amount of variety, displaying tempo changes and even incorporating a little cello and keyboards for goodmeasure. For the most part, Monolith plays Swedish Death Metal more akin to Amon Amarth than In Flames. The vocals, handled by Martin Arnoldsson, remain harsh throughout but show enough personality to avoid being a mere clone of what has come before, quite an accomplishment considering Arnoldsson joined just two weeks before recording took place and had no prior experience growling. That goes for the band as well. While Monolith does nothing that broadens the genre in any way, The Praetorian Face Damnation does what a demo should: it demonstrates that the band has the skills needed to cut a professional CD and could potentially, with time and experience, release something groundbreaking. Bands like Monolith may be a dime a dozen in Sweden, but to these American ears, it sounds pretty damn good, especially when compared to all the rap influenced, thumpin' and bumpin' "streetwize" crap every local band in America seems to be excreting. REVIEW BY: PHILIP HINKLE Review made by the Italian WebZine Tragenda:  MONOLITH "The Praetorian Face Damnation" 5+/6 Another really interesting demo from Sweden! The sound of Monolith is a brillianty performed mix between american brutal death metal and the classic swedish death metal. All the four song in this demo are aggressive and raw but Monolith are also capable sometimes to give us a rest thanks to a few interesting acoustic breaks really well executed. A couple of interesting and aggressive riffs are present and the vocals are recognizable and grim going from growls to screaming. These guys managed to make ALL the songs highly impressive to listen to. Brilliant piece of extreme metal - you'd be a fool missing it. /Strenuus)

Location Lund, Skåne - Sweden

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