photos by Melissa Petisa
Profound Lore Records unveils BLOOD MONOLITH, an emerging death metal juggernaut featuring members of Nails, Undeath, Ulthar, Genocide Pact, and other notable bands from across the extreme metal underground.
Formed by guitarist/vocalist Shelby Lermo (Nails, Ulthar) in 2023 after his exit from Vastum, the goal of BLOOD MONOLITH was to create something even uglier, weirder, and more aggressive operating out of his new home base in the Washington DC/Northern Virginia area. Guitarist Tommy Wall (Undeath) joined Lermo, and the music for the band’s debut LP was soon written. The addition of bassist Nolan (Genocide Pact, Shitstorm) and drummer Aidan Tydings-Lynch (Deliriant Nerve, Brain Tourniquet) rounded out the lineup.
BLOOD MONOLITH’s location ties deeply into their sound, as this epicenter of mass murder and corruption provides constant fuel for boiled-down anger, as well as a rich history of rebellion through music. The album’s title, The Calling Of Fire, invokes the internal and external summoning of rage to spit in the face of that seemingly unstoppable, towering evil, and the sonic excess within lands like a broad-daylight assassination.
Their unique and unconventional concept and aesthetic sets BLOOD MONOLITH apart from the plethora of interchangeable death metal bands currently inhabiting the scene, and their music is miles beyond them as well. There is a DIY mindset and ethic present, but despite the punk and grindcore pedigree of its members, BLOOD MONOLITH plays crazed death metal of the highest order, influenced as much by classics like Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse as modern innovators like Defeated Sanity and Dead Congregation.
Engineered by Shelby Lermo and Matt Michel (Goetia, Left Cross, Antichrist Siege Machine) who also mixed the tracks, mastered by Adam Tucker at Signaturetone Recordings (Ulthar, Maul, Obsequiae), and adorned with cover art by legendary Rudimentary Peni frontman Nick Blinko, The Calling Of Fire is a testament to all things musically frenzied and extreme, a brutally succinct statement of nihilism in a world beyond salvation.
With the first preview of this devastating project, Lermo states, “‘Prayer To Crom’ is the first song Tommy and I composed for this project, and I think it gave us a laser focus on where we should take the rest of the album. It is a mission statement, both musically and lyrically – a sword cleaving a path to annihilation.”
The lead preview of BLOOD MONOLITH’s dehumanizing The Calling Of Fire, “Prayer To Crom,” is now streaming on all platforms at THIS LOCATION.
The Calling Of Fire will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats on May 16th. Preorders and merch can be found HERE.
Be prepared for additional previews of the album and other news including live incursions to post shortly.
The Calling Of Fire Track Listing:
1. Trepanation Worm
2. The Owl In Daylight
3. Prayer To Crom
4. Viscera Vobiscum
5. Apparatus
6. Cleansing
7. Slaughter Garden
8. Pyroklesis
BLOOD MONOLITH:
Shelby Lermo – guitar, vocals
Tommy Wall – guitar
Nolan – bass
Aidan Tydings-Lynch – drums
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