Riff-heavy Los Angeles stoner-thrash metal band BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH has completed work on its new album Defender, Redeemist. Recorded and Engineered by the legendary Billy Anderson (High on Fire, Sleep, Neurosis) at North Hollywood’s Skull 7 Studios, the LP is set for a January 24, 2012 release and promises to deliver majestic, hessian-rock with torching guitar riffs, barreling rhythms and bullish heart. This is music made by fans of METAL for fans of METAL! Today, Guitar World gives music fans a first listen to what the band has in store with the new LP, premiering the towering new BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH song “Halv King“. Crank your speakers to 12 and get crushed by “Halv King” immediately at this location!
With a sound like a volcano and lyrical themes rife with phantasmagoric Lovecraft-ian battle lore, BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH generates awesome on demand. The band’s Celtic Frost / Motörhead-like lurch and laser-cut attack moves confidently through multiple riffs and movements, locking into brontosaurus stomp and building to climactic roars. Defender, Redeemist features eight tracks of towering, minor-key molten metal that energizes with electric, mind-stun volume. The band has been called “multi-dimensional demigods” by Metal Hammer, “Ass-heavy like Mastodon or High On Fire” by Terrorizer and “bleary-eyed doom sludge as soundtrack to the end of the empire” by Blabbermouth.
“We definitely went in a “less stoner, more metal” direction on this record,” said BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH guitarist Matt Price. “There’s some faster stuff and some definite classic metal hat-tipping going on. It also has some of our most wretched sludgy / doom-y riffs yet. We know every band says this, but we feel it’s a step up for us on every level…but our fans will have to be the ultimate judge of that.”
The track listing for BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH‘s Defender, Redeemist is:
1.) Guardian’s Procession (1:35)
2.) Halv King (4:17)
3.) Desolizator (6:26)
4.) Redeemist (11:06)
5.) We Are the Worm (4:53)
6.) Witch Hunt Supreme (6:58)
7.) Cast on the Black / Lamentor / Guided by the Southern Cross (13:51)
8.) Bull Colossi (8:05)
The album’s stunning, gatefold artwork was created by noted heavy metal and horror artist Dusty Peterson (Bloodbath, Cattle Decapitation) and is available for viewing now at this location.
In addition to Price, BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH features Kevin McDade (bass, vocals) and Chase Manhattan (drums).