This is the debut album from Italian blackened doom band Dwellnought.
Dwellnought play hideous, lightless doom that’s soaked in black metal’s corrosive acids. Monolith of Ephemerality is a 47-minute nightmare, one that drowns the listener in sinister auras that terrify and dehumanise.
Monolith of Ephemerality revels in its malevolence. A monstrous amalgamation of the foulest doom and the most corrupt black metal, it offers up an ocean of darkness for the unwary listener to become lost in. Submerged in this harrowing sea are predators birthed from ferocious war metal and caustic noise, both of which further infect Dwellnought’s dreadscapes.
Despite its unspeakable horror, Monolith of Ephemerality is best approached as a single profane work. The tracks are complete in and of themselves, but are most effective when they bleed into each other, carrying the listener inexorably forward to their ultimate demise and damnation.
Filth-ridden riffs and warped rhythms power the songs, seeing them travel from one reality to the next, rending asunder the barriers between worlds as if they were paper thin. It’s violent work, but pales in comparison to the despair-inducing pervasive atmospheres that emanate from the music like spectral waves. The record’s unnatural presence is crushing, exuding a preternatural oppression that is impossible to counteract.
At the core of Monolith of Ephemerality rots an old, malignant heart. Dwellnought use this diseased organ to pump out the sort of raw, murderous, underground nastiness that’s rarely seen.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 