To my shame, despite the nearly cult status of this outfit, I had never heard any of their previous work until now. Although perhaps that's for the better, since reviews of this disc based on comparisons with earlier albums are a dime a dozen online. So, as a reasonably prepared listener, I can say — I, Monarch is an excellent disc.
For those who have heard HATE ETERNAL before, no explanation is needed, but for the uninitiated, I'll say that musically the album's territory lies on the ground first plowed by the great MORBID ANGEL — who have since ascended into the boundless and unreachable expanses of genius — and now actively tilled by numerous bands, the most notable of which are perhaps BEHEMOTH and possibly HATE.
Basically, it's blast beat-driven brutal death with pretensions toward technicality and complexity. Very dense and aggressive music — excellent riffs and vocals presented in two varieties: a growl reminiscent of a wild beast's roar, and a nasty scream. The solo passages are quite reminiscent of MORBID ANGEL's — clearly Erik Rutan took quite a bit away from that collective. And the drummer deserves a separate mention — a true workhorse. His drum barrage sounds like he's got a tank-mounted machine gun behind the kit (though that's not always a good thing).
I'm docking one point for the lack of originality and another for the excessive abuse of blast beats — how much pounding is really necessary? You get tired from that kind of relentless hammering. Although one must admit that this feeling is smoothed over by the final instrumental track, and besides, if things weren't this way, would this whole glorious racket even be called HATE ETERNAL?