Review by Felix on January 2, 2020.

Some things never change and the music of the dude from Belarus belongs to these phenomena. Vietah’s fourth full-length is another lesson in dragging rhythms, dramatic melodies and emotional states which mirror desperation, loneliness and melancholy. Yet even though there is nothing new in the portfolio of the lone wolf, we can identify a minimal change. Unlike the first albums, Czornaja ćviĺ refrains from any form of keyboard-dominated ambient tracks. Good decision in view of the fact that the full-length consists only of four tracks (with an average length of eleven minutes – if you like to consume musical fast food, you can stop reading right now).

Antarctis, the man behind the project, follows his visions strictly and this means that mid-paced or even fast sequences do mostly not show up (the second track on the A side marks the exception). Thus, total speed maniacs will not enjoy broad parts of this album and the same applies for fans of songs that offer breaks in abundance. Vietah prefer the meditative facet of black metal. To put the focus on a small number of riffs per song in order to develop their hypnotic effect is a good idea – as long as the riffs work. Generally speaking, this is the case here, even it would have been fine if Antarctis had emancipated himself from the superior art of Burzum’s masterpieces. Some guitar lines of the closer lie in very close proximity to some of Varg, to express it mildly. Or am I just like Pavlov’s dogs and Burzum comes to my mind inevitably whenever I hear this kind of sound?

There is no filler on this album, but a little highlight. “Reflections in the Black Water”, the opener of the B side, puts the other tracks in the shade due to its mighty riff, its dense atmosphere and the invoking chorus. This song is like heavy snowfall at night, pretty monotonous and silent, but at the same time cold, relentless and unforgiving. A majestic opus, no doubt about it. It profits from the gloomy and well-defined production that emphasizes the guitars and the keyboards simultaneously. The third element is the guttural voice, although Antarctis has to struggle in order to be heard. Maybe the sound engineers should have given the voice a more prominent place. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. The album does definitely not suffer from an inadequate sound and so it has enough to offer for friends of elegiac black metal. Only those of you who are tired of listening again and again to the sound that has been invented roughly 25 years ago are well advised to keep aloof from this work. Maybe it sounds predictable, but its solidity is out of question.

Rating: 7.3 out of 10

Review by Jack on April 29, 2003.

Fortunately for all parties concerned The Monolith Deathcult is an outfit with a just a tad more bite than your average junkyard pit-bull. Once we weave our way past the gross over-usage of terms that you might read if you decided to do a scan for 'brutal' in the thesaurus, we are actually presented with a band that have enough going for them to be something besides another 'copy.'

Musically The Monolith Deathcult scrub up in a pretty ship-shape way. "The Apotheosis" is a fair ol' kick in the right direction as far as interesting death metal goes. Generally most tracks start off in a fairly pedestrian sort of manner (you know the ones that make you think 'ho-hum'), but after 30 seconds or so, the tempo is raised to the next level and things start to become pretty tasty for all discerning death enthusiasts. Over the top of each and every track is a pretty tangy tri-vocal attack from three of the members of the foursome (leaving Sjoerd the monotonous task of smacking up the skins, and nothing else), which keeps things pretty interesting from a vocal perspective. 'The Deserved Reputation of Cruelty' is a terrific example of this.

From a lyrical point of view, The Monolith Deathcult have some interesting tales to divulge. Vlad the Impaler and Attila the Hun being some of really the most interesting topics I think a death metal band could possibly take up. I mean, I actually -want- to follow along with the lyrics for each song on "The Apotheosis."

Overall The Monolith Deathcult have delivered an exciting record in "The Apotheosis." It possibly won't blow you completely away, but it should be a record that gets a decent slab of rotation time.

Bottom Line: Far more than a Nile clone, far more than the standard fare in death metal circles today. Aside from the interesting stories portrayed in the lyrics, The Monolith Deathcult has a good deal of things working for them; natty three-strike vocal delivery; interesting tempo variations and most importantly a fair bit of flair in each aspect of the overall presentation of the whole package.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 7
Originality: 7
Overall: 8

Rating: 7.2 out of 10