Hiking all shoulders and muscling downward in their efforts to crack apart the jaw of the deathshead Saint Petersburg, Russia-based death metal band VOID MONUMENTS allow for louder unhinged mockery of the martyr’s passion as they arrive upon their debut full-length with notable readiness. That is to say that ‘Posthumous Imprecation‘ is an exceptional study of 90’s death metal and its holistic generational evolve where the work shows, allowing patiently cut forms to serve deliberate destructive acts where the riff is key feature but only becomes truly illuminated by the atmospheric friction granted between performance and render. Though the homogeny of the ‘old school’ death metal zeitgeist distilled into simplified formae entertains multitudes of artists today here their exception grants this severe character, a trampling foment of a death metal album which manages personae and ouevre in service to the (death metal apropos) song rather than quick-shot moshable vignette.

Void Monuments formed back in 2020 by way of Kreator, a longtime guitarist for black metal bands Khashm and Ulvdalir as well as an original member of death metal band Septory. It’d taken several years to develop their ideal sound and find a configuration suitable for a recording, moving from a duo to a quintet by the time their work was made official throughout 2024, but when they did it’d lead to the release of a collection of demo songs (‘Temples of Pestilence‘, 2024) in the twilight at year’s end. It was clear that their work would be pursuant of its own take on mid-90’s United States death metal from that point, fostering a sound which reflected mid-paced and at-times blackened blasphemic threads informed by Floridian aggression and shades of rugged war metallic scourge. To my ear this (initial) sound cumulatively resembled a certain era of Poland’s death metal underground to some degree, that general amalgam and its kinship to classic USDM. You’ll get a similar impression in exploration of the classics-minded, oppressive cull of ‘Posthumous Imprecation‘.

If we can move away from general structural conceit served by demonstrative materials and begin to describe the actual machinations serving Void Monuments‘ work on ‘Posthumous Imprecation‘ the place to start from my point of view is something tonally similar to ‘Sothis‘-era Vader where the shared severity of ‘Deicide‘ and ‘Blessed are the Sick‘ create a doubly atmospheric churn within militant aggression and despite not throttling up toward an outright brutal pace. Album opener “Epitome of Fear” bears ex-thrasher levels of early 90’s groove as its core bent, a twisted rhythmic conversation which stews and gnashes loudest within its mid-point. The first few pieces here slug along as if dredging the past into ruinous tradition-bound form, threatening death/doom on the horizon within the opening salvo of “Devilish Prophecies” but within the next few songs it’ll be more clear why I’ve made the comparisons I have thus far. There is an authentic ‘old school’ death metal voice achieved in those first several moments but we’ve only just entered the maelstrom at that point.

Where Void Monuments transition from curious underground menace to notable act doesn’t involve outright originality or ripping brutality, at least not the mindless variety, though murderous conviction is served via an above-average knack for the riff. “Decapitate the Saints” naturally catches the ear for its use of repetition within its main verses, a tightened yet trampling groove which affords their guitarist’s riffcraft room to sprawl and wander a bit despite clear intent to dominate their larger statement. The death-thrashing waves of that song (also: “Ascent to the Crucifixion”) caught my ear first as a cue to take a closer ear to ‘Posthumous Imprecation‘ though it’d turn out to be an endpoint for Side A and less a directive heading into the second half. As this ~36 minute record burns on all confidence in the band’s ability to deliver on riffs escalates though they’ve paid surprisingly little mind to the black/death metal nodes found on their demo collection. You could make the argument for “Invocation” though, as it is least changed beyond its demo version.

There isn’t a bad song on this debut, the whole deal smokes up its own acrid stench throughout its thread, though I’d found each half of the record naturally escalated toward its best pieces as they’d progressed. Side B is no less of an offense especially as it rolls out with “Ascent to the Crucifixion” but the listener will more than likely find some of these ideas redundant ’til things are (slightly) shaken up toward the end of ‘Posthumous Imprecation‘; Void Monuments reach for an early 2000’s sort of weave throughout but do so more intensely within their two final pieces served. This most notably includes closer “Father of Sin” where we find some intensified shades of Immolation-esque leads introducing the song as well as informing their key movement and I’d particularly loved how this ended, even going as far as to check and see if it were a cover song I wasn’t aware of.

Beyond providing admirable fusion of tried-and-true elemental forces of the past it should be clear enough why Void Monuments have managed such an accomplished debut here today as four years of development and one year of execution readily yields punishing, demented craft worth stewing within. Otherwise the edge which ‘Posthumous Imprecation‘ wields lies in the dark, obscure grittiness that it sports where fuming but not harried aggression lends the album a cold marbled atmospheric severity amidst its thrashing core. This is accentuated by a truly eye-melting piece of album artwork, organically achieved sound design, and a general delivery on expectations per the blasphemic dark death metal within. Above all else there is a ride given, an entertaining bludgeon and burn through their work which makes for exceptional, repeatable listening. A very high recommendation.

---