Rise to Power (Monstrosity album)

Rise to Power is the fourth studio album by the American death metal band Monstrosity. The album was recorded at Audio Hammer studios in Sanford, Florida, with the engineer Jason Suecof and was released on September 23, 2003, by Conquest Music.[1]

Rise to Power
Studio album by
Monstrosity
ReleasedSeptember 23, 2003
RecordedAudio Hammer Studios in Sanford, Florida
GenreDeath metal
Length47:57
LabelConquest
ProducerLee Harrison, Monstrosity
Monstrosity chronology
In Dark Purity
(1999)		 Rise to Power
(2003)		 Spiritual Apocalypse
(2007)

During the tour to promote Rise to Power, Monstrosity headlined the Rock al Parque festival in Bogotá, Colombia, and performed in front of 80,000 people.[2]

Background

Following an unsuccessful planned Mexican tour, which was initially scheduled for early December 2001 and rescheduled for early 2002 as a result of Sepultura's Mexican dates coinciding with the original tour, Monstrosity began to record their fourth studio album at Morrisound Studios in early 2002.[3] However, due to the band's heavy touring schedule, the recording was delayed to April 2002.[4]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[5]
Chronicles of Chaos6/10[6]
Exclaim!favorable[7]

John Serba of Allmusic criticized the band stating, "Lyrically tired and musically derivative, Monstrosity remains firmly rooted in the early-1990s meat-and-potatoes death metal ethic, eyes not locked on the genre's future like Nile or Absu, or on memorable songwriting." Serba also wrote that in Rise to Power, the group "still doesn't break out of the third tier of Floridian-via-New York City-style baby-eaters, stringing together a bunch of musically competent, third-generation, ripped-off Morbid Angel-via-Slayer-while-sleeping-with-Suffocation riffs, peppered with clackity-typewriter double-bass drums and vocals from Glen Benton's evil second cousin's former roommate, thrice removed." He complemented, "Monstrosity attempts to scorch already blackened, barren ground, with no lighter fluid or original ideas in its possession."[5]

The Chronicles of Chaos webzine writer Brian Meloon gave the album a rating of 6 out of 10, stating that Rise to Power was similar to the band's previous album In Dark Purity, but that he found it rather uninspired. He observed that Monstrosity's style remained largely unchanged: "it's still a riff-heavy brand of death metal featuring both power chord-based riffs and individual note lines, harmonized guitar parts, growled vocals, fast double bass drumming and blast beats." Meloon defined Rise to Power as a "competent release but nothing special."[6]

Track listing
No.TitleMusicLength
1."The Exordium"Harrison, Molina, Norman3:16
2."Awaiting Armageddon"Harrison, Molina, Norman3:43
3."Wave of Annihilation"Harrison, Molina, Norman3:47
4."The Fall of Eden"Norman2:09
5."Chemical Reaction"Harrison, Molina, Norman4:14
6."A Casket for the Soul"Avery, Hall, Harrison4:31
7."Rise to Power"Avery, Harrison4:14
8."Visions of Violence"Avery, Harrison, Norman3:42
9."From Wrath to Ruin"Harrison, Molina3:45
10."Abysmal Gods"Avery, Harrison2:29
11."Shadow of Obliteration"Harrison, Molina, Norman12:03
Total length:47:57

Personnel
Monstrosity
  • Tony Norman – guitar, assistant engineer
  • Jason Avery – vocals
  • Sam Molina – guitar, backing vocals on "Rise to Power"
  • Mark English – guitar solo on "Rise to Power"
  • Lee Harrison – drums, producer, graphic design, assistant engineer
Production
  • Scott Matthews – photography
  • Kelly Milliman – photography
  • Montrosity – producer
  • Jason Suecof – engineer, guitar solo on "A Casket for the Soul"
  • Tom Morris – mastering
  • Mike Poggione – bass guitar
  • John Snead – drum technician
  • Jacek Wisniewski – cover art
gollark: Maybe make it so that you have to scan a QR code and solve a moderately complex random problem?
gollark: A secondary alarm after 5 minutes?
gollark: Just never stop the alarm?
gollark: Mild electric shocks?
gollark: > It’s not possible as far as i knowYes it is, free electron lasers exist. Although you can't really make one yourself.

References
  1. "Monstrosity Complete Work on 'Rise to Power'". Blabbermouth.net. August 26, 2003. Retrieved June 14, 2009.
  2. "Monstrosity Conquer Bogota!". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. October 26, 2003. Retrieved June 14, 2009.
  3. "Monstrosity Set to Record New Album, Tour South America!". Blabbermouth.net. December 25, 2001. Retrieved June 14, 2009.
  4. "Monstrosity Push Back CD Recording, Announce Mexican, Brazilian Dates". Blabbermouth.net. January 22, 2002. Retrieved June 14, 2009.
  5. Serba, John. "Rise to Power – Review". Allmusic. Macrovision. Retrieved June 13, 2009.
  6. Meloon, Brian (July 6, 2004). "Review, Monstrosity – Rise to Power". Chronicles of Chaos. Retrieved June 14, 2009.
  7. Pratt, Greg (December 2003). "Aggressive Tendencies, Monstrosity – Rise to Power". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 14, 2009.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.