by Raymond DeLeon
For a death metal band, who played its first show opening up for Dissection, there comes high expectations. Nominon has been around since the early days of death metal and they refuse to surrender to new trends, as evident in their new album Monumentomb. So for die hard fans of the genre, their expectations are easily met.
Recorded at Necrombus Studios and produced by Tore Stjerna, Nominon created a ferocious album that will ensure a violent death for all newcomers that try and imitate them. It will be their newly acquired singer, Henke Skoog, who will be reciting the lyrics from the new album as a eulogy for these dead imitators. His deep growls and screams, which rage throughout the album, are from a man possessed perhaps by one of the very few and unknown serial killers roaming the mountains in Sweden. His voice will be the last the dead will hear before their ears are flooded with dirt.
The rest of the band provides a relentless attack of brutality that is only matched by a handful of today’s death metal bands. Juhaz Salasalmi and Perra Karla started Nominon back in 1993 and are still adding more and more elements to their Swedish death metal sound. As with Monumentomb, the tradition continues with tempo changes to boot and rock influenced guitar solos that have a raw edge to them. The band also has a new bass player, Martin Petersson, but we’ll have to wait and see if he can keep up with these old school deathsters.
One of the highlights of this lethal album is track six, “Mountain of Hate.” This song will have any fan of metal banging their heads against the tombs of the deceased. The drums are blasted out by a psychotic demon, Perra, who is trying to raise the dead with his hypnotic double bass. Monumentomb will fill endless graves. Therefore, it commands your attention before you are executed. It’s everything a true death head loves; brutality and a pure hatred for all of mankind.
