CoC : Deathwitch - Monumental Mutilations : Review

Deathwitch - _Monumental Mutilations_
(Necropolis, 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (3 out of 10)

The description, in one review I read, of Deathwitch's music as being "shitty Brazilian death metal" certainly seems apt when attempting to describe _Monumental Mutilations_. It also provides some explanation as to the material presented here is both raw and simplistic. If I look at _MM_ from the perspective that it is trying to recreate the "shitty" feel of _Morbid Visions_-era Sepultura, it doesn't surprise me that creativity or variation aren't on Deathwitch's agenda. However, that the aim of this was not ambitious does not excuse its mediocrity. The material here is structurally simplistic, repetitive, tedious and unoriginal, and though the Andy LaRocque production gives the guitars a somewhat fierce roar and the drums a decent bite, the style in which this potential beast conducts itself results in it being a rather tedious and tiresome creature to witness in performance. Further, _MM_ is not really great value for money, being more of a thirty-six minute compilation than an album. Songs left over from the sessions of their last album (1998's _The Ultimate Death_) along with two covers (of Bathory and Sepultura) and two re-recordings accompany the four original songs. When you add the excessively uninspired lyrical content ("Possessed by fire / My morbid desire / The flames reaching higher / I'm lost in fire" are the opening proclamations of the "interestingly" titled "Fire Fuck") you're left with virtually nothing to encourage you to pick up this release.

(article published 12/10/1999)

ALBUMS
26/11/2003	J Smit	6	Deathwitch - Violence Blasphemy Sodomy
1/9/2002	V Eldefors	7	Deathwitch - Deathfuck Rituals
12/8/1997	S Hoeltzel	6	Deathwitch - Dawn of Armageddon
2/1/1997	D Schinzel	8	Deathwitch - Triumphant Devastation