MISANTHROPE MONARCH – Regress to the Saturnine Chapter

Hybrid metal is always an interesting listen. It’s always fascinating to see how bands can warp and mash genres up in their own way. Misanthrope Monarch is a band that does that very well. Their album “Regress to the Saturnine Chapter” came out earlier this month, and shows off a great blend of a few different genres. “Toward the Utopian Kingdom of Fire” kicks this one off as a slow and ambient intro, and gets you hyped for what follows. Next we have “Usurping the Throne”. This song is interesting because while the majority of the album is mainly death metal, and pulls in the other genres for variation, this song is basically blackened thrash. The writing here is tight, and the awesome low vocals that you’ll see on here are shown off very well. “Crushing the Unbeliever” shows off the bands death metal side really well. The vibe on this song reminds me of Cannibal Corpse, and the guitars on this song are absolutely crushing.

The death metal continues with “Brotherhood of Destruction”. Unfortunately compared to the previous track, this one feels weak in comparison. “Dispelled” is my favorite song at least in the first half, maybe on the whole album. The band uses this track to show off some melody while not taking their foot off the accelerator. “Regress to the Saturnine Chapter” is up next. This song feels like a weaker song, but the writing here is strong enough to keep it fairly strong. We continue with “Father Son and the Hollow Spirit”. On this track the pace changes a few times, keeping it interesting. The solo on this song fits the death metal sound very well. “Black Sirens” serves as an interlude, and is a short ambient instrumental track. This is followed with “The Omega Embrace”, which is a very solid track. “Trail of the Heretic” is up next, and the black metal is shown off again. If you like bands like Behemoth, you’ll enjoy this one. “Cosmic Maze” is the final and longest song on the album. It’s a very melodic blackened death track that does a great job wrapping the album up. This is very good. The band takes death metal and is able to take other extreme metal influences and put them in nicely. Now there are a few tracks on here that feel like filler, but this isn’t an album that you want to miss out on.

Overall Score: 8.5/10

Review by Sam Hookom