MONSTROSITY

If there ever was a Monstrosity album that could once and for all clear your memory of the band’s big-name alumni, it is Screams From Beneath The Surface. No longer will the current collective known as Monstrosity live in the shadow of that massive, corpse-grinding neck. If you’ve come looking for that, well, you’re in the wrong place. Head over to one of the mainstream metal sites for your name drops and gossip, cause we don’t do that shit here. Instead, we focus on death metal. Real, honest-to-goodness death metal. The kind of death metal that drags your ass back to the days of CRT television sets, VCRs, and landlines. The kind of death metal that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. And just the kind of death metal that birthed ’96’s legendary slab of Floridian brutality, Millennium, an album that is universally acclaimed as Monstrosity‘s finest moment in a seven-album catalogue.

Compared to the band’s lacklustre early-2000s output (which included 2003’s Rise To Power and 2007’s Spiritual Apocalypse), Screams From Beneath The Surface definitely shines, in much the same way as Millenium shone all those years ago. Thankfully, this newest venture does not veer too far from their last studio album, 2018’s awesome return to the old-school, The Passage Of Existence. The biggest change this time around is a lineup shift, with Ed Webb taking over vocal duties from Mike Hrubovcak, and Michael Poggione and Mark English being replaced by the return of the original bassist, Mark Van Erp, and guitarist Justin Walker, respectively. These changes are felt mildly at best and are most noticeable in the vocals, with Ed Webb (ex-Massacre) sounding decidedly more old-school in his growl. The real reason this thing sounds so genuine is certainly due to the tireless efforts of main songwriter/founder Lee Harrison, who has done an incredible job of keeping the backbone of the classic Monstrosity sound alive and kicking in 2026.

The pedigree of the production on this beast can’t be overstated, featuring the dual-studio power of Morrisound Recording (Jim Morris handling vocals, guitars, and mastering, tying the album back to the legendary “Florida Death Metal” birthplace), and Audiohammer Studios (Jason Suecof handling the rhythm section and mixing, bringing a punchy, modern clarity to the decidedly old-school formula). I must admit that I do miss the murk of early-90s production (à la Scott Burns), but I begrudgingly accept that, in this day and age, bands actually prefer that their instruments be heard. Go figure. And what we hear on Screams From Beneath The Surface is a masterclass in technical brutality. Tracks such as ‘Banished To The Skies’ and ‘The Atrophied’ are stunning examples of death metal precision and intricacy, basically the meat-and-potatoes of a classic Monstrosity experience. Not a band to fall into complacency, the guys also showcase their knack for pushing the boundaries of old-school death metal, as heard in tracks such as ‘The Dark Aura’ and ‘Fortunes Engraved In Blood’, introducing otherworldly sonic dimensions while still vibing to the brutal intensity that has defined their legacy.

So, was the seven-year wait since The Passage Of Existence worth it? Absolutely. Screams From Beneath The Surface proves that Monstrosity is no longer living in the shadow of ‘the neck’… they are too busy stepping on the throats of the competition.