UMUR
"The Passage Of Existence" is the sixth full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Monstrosity. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in September 2018. It´s the successor to "Spiritual Apocalypse" from 2007 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as Matt Barnes has been added as second guitarist completing the now quintet lineup.
Stylistically the material on "The Passage Of Existence" continue the technically well played US death metal style of "Spiritual Apocalypse (2007)". Monstrosity were one of the early 90s Florida death metal acts which lived in the shadow of more successful artists like Obituary, Deicide, and Morbid Angel, and they were never able to get a real breakthrough, although they´ve continued to dwell in the Florida death metal underground and have continuously released albums (not completely unlike the fate of another Florida death metal act like Brutality). Oh well...there is typically a reason for everything, and the reason why Monstrosity have never reached beyond underground status, is because they don´t stand out much, and they don´t really have a unique style.
"The Passage Of Existence" is otherwise a high quality US death metal release. The musicianship is top notch (the guitar work on the album is quite brilliant), the sound production is raw, brutal, and detailed, suiting the material perfectly, and the songwriting is solid and relatively memorable, so it´s really just a matter of Monstrosity not producing music which is uniquely their own. Fans of Florida style US death metal should take notice here though, as this is a quality release in the genre. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.