Monolith starts with a whispering voice, but the bigger part of this release is dominated by sheer aggression. Black Metal without compromises, harsh vocals and a few melodies in the background. The high speed is alternated by some moderately fast elements, which are desperately needed by this kind of music to avoid boredom.

I did not get aware of the finesses in ATRAS CINERIS’ work during the first listening session. On the surface, Monolith passed me by without highlights, just aggressive, but monotonous. At second sight, the melodies unfold a certain dirty charm. In all, the songs miss out surprises or definite outstanding parts, which let the songs stay in my mind forever. For me the sound could be a lot more powerful, it is a little bit high-pitched and the guitars as well as the drums loose their impelling effect. ATRAS CINERIS cannot manage to keep up suspense during the quite long tracks; some riffs could have been elaborated better. In addition, there is no chance to understand one single word of the vocals. The song Requiem Der Nacht is the best one in my opinion, because the band is able to create a dark atmosphere in this case, but like in other cases, the music lacks of the certain something. There are some slower and therefore alternating parts, which create eerie sentiments and this is the way the band should work in the future.

Summing up, Monolith tries to be a monumental piece of music, but the ingredients are not spicy enough to elate the listener totally. As stated above, the alternation is present in some songs, but the music needs more surprising aspects to get outstanding. Unfortunately the recognition value is quite low, and that’s exactly what a band needs among hundreds of others.