''Monolith of Inhumanity'' is the fifth studio album by American

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band

Cattle Decapitation Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band from San Diego, California, formed in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, bassist Olivier Pinard, and drummer David McGr ...

, released on May 8, 2012. Upon its release, it was met with positive reviews praising the addition of melody into their sound.

Promotion

Music videos were released for "Kingdom of Tyrants," "Forced Gender Reassignment," and "Your Disposal." A 7" single for "Your Disposal" was released in mid-2013. The B-side is "An Exposition of Insides," previously only available on the Japanese version of the album. The music video for "Forced Gender Reassignment" was written and directed by Mitch Massie. The uncensored music video, which depicts members of the

Westboro Baptist Church The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a small American, unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. Labeled a hate group, WBC is known for engaging in homophobic and anti-American pickets, ...

being abducted and given

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...

, is available for viewing on the website

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...

with permission from the band.

Reception

Critical reception

Upon its release ''Monolith of Inhumanity'' generally received favorable reviews from critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has been given a score of 79% based on 5 reviews.

Public reception

The album also was voted the best album of 2012 by Metal Injection readers. On the

MetalSucks MetalSucks is a heavy metal music-themed news website. The site features reviews, interviews, information on latest metal releases and blog-like posts from the writers, most notably Vince Neilstein and Axl Rosenberg. History The site was foun ...

series "The Best Metal Albums of 2012, As Chosen by Metal Musicians Themselves," Sven de Caluwé of

Aborted Aborted is a Belgian death metal band formed in 1995 in Waregem. The group currently consists of vocalist, founder and only constant member Sven de Caluwé, guitarist Ian Jekelis, bassist Stefano Franceschini and drummer Ken Bedene. Although th ...

, Richie Cavalera of Incite, David Davidson and Dan Gargiulo both of

Revocation Revocation is the act of recall or annulment. It is the cancelling of an act, the recalling of a grant or privilege, or the making void of some deed previously existing. A temporary revocation of a grant or privilege is called a suspension. Cont ...

, Charles Elliott of Abysmal Dawn, Jeremy Wagner formerly of

Broken Hope Broken Hope is an American death metal band from Chicago, Illinois. History Broken Hope was founded in 1988. They were known as an accomplished mid-paced style death metal band with low-pitched growling vocals. As a band, they were active for ...

, John Vail formerly of

Wretched Wretched may refer to: * Wretched (punk band) *Wretched (doom metal band) * Wretched (metal band), a death metal band from Charlotte * ''The Wretched'' (film), a 2020 supernatural horror film by the Pierce Brothers *"The Wretched", a song by The Wo ...

, and Leon del Muerte of

Murder Construct Murder Construct is an American extreme metal band from Los Angeles, California, United States. The band members are Travis Ryan (Cattle Decapitation), Leon del Muerte (Nausea LA, ex- Exhumed, ex-D.I.S., ex-Intronaut, ex- Impaled, ex-Phobia), Chr ...

included ''Monolith of Inhumanity'' on their lists.

Track listing

Personnel

Writing, performance and production credits are adapted from the album liner notes.

Cattle Decapitation

* Travis Ryan –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

, atmospherics,

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, drums on "The Monolith" * Josh Elmore –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" * Derek Engemann – bass, additional vocals, gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede", additional guitar and keyboard on "The Monolith" * Dave McGraw –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede"

Guest musicians

* Leonard Leal (

Cephalic Carnage Cephalic Carnage is an American death metal band formed in Denver, Colorado in 1992. The band comprises vocalist Lenzig Leal, guitarists Steve Goldberg and Brian Hopp, drummer John Merryman and bassist Nick Schendzielos. Cephalic Carnage has rel ...

) – vocals on "A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat" * Mike Majewski (

Devourment Devourment is an American death metal band from Dallas, Texas. Formed in 1995, the band has split up and reformed three times leaving Brad Fincher as the only original member. The current lineup is Ruben Rosas, Chris Andrews, Dave Spencer and B ...

) – vocals on "Projectile Ovulation"

Additional musicians

: ** Leonard Leal – gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" ** Nick Schendzielos – gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" ** Steve Goldberg – gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" ** Brian Hopp – gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" ** John Merryman – gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" ** Zac Joe – gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" ** Jawsh Mullen – gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" * Sean Perry – gang vocals on "The Carbon Stampede" * John Wiese – electronics, atmospherics

Production

* Dave Otero –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

, mixing, mastering * Shane Howard –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Artwork and design

* Wes Benscoter – album artwork, photo editing * Brian Ames – album layout * Sam Lanthrem –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

* Matthew Zinke – photography * Travis Ryan – art direction, concept

Studio

* Flatline Audio,

Westminster, CO The City of Westminster is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality located in Adams County, Colorado, Adams and Jefferson County, Colorado, Jefferson List of counties in Colorado, counties, Colorado, Un ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

– production, mixing, mastering

Charts

References

External links

*
''Monolith of Inhumanity''
at

Metal Blade Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distri ...

{{Authority control 2012 albums Albums produced by Dave Otero Albums recorded at Flatline Audio Albums with cover art by Wes Benscoter Cattle Decapitation albums Metal Blade Records albums LGBT-related controversies in music Obscenity controversies in music