Monstrosity is mostly remembered by the connections it has with other influential death metal bands, most notably through original vocalist George ‘Corpsegrinder’ Fisher, who would later join Cannibal Corpse. Because of this, it is often overlooked how good their albums tend to be. Monstrosity was one of the better proggy death metal bands of its era and ‘Millennium’ is arguably their best work. In fact, the album contains some of the best compositions the Floridian death metal scene has ever brought forth. For the amount of things happening within Monstrosity’s aggressive music, their songs never become overbearing and remain surprisingly listenable.

One of the reasons why ‘Millennium’ is so good is because it so clearly predates many of the flaws of the current death metal scene. It could be argued that the music is a precursor to technical death metal, but the riffs are memorable, almost catchy, without exception. The tempos are generally high, but the songs never devolve into exhausting hyperspeed blasting with no breathing room, and the thrash roots of the genre can still be heard in the riff work. In fact, I would almost describe this as what Forbidden would have sounded like if they were a Floridian death metal band.

Despite drummer Lee Harrison being one of the main songwriters in Monstrosity, the music on ‘Millennium’ is riff-based first and foremost. Unlike many bands that were on the more technical side of the death metal spectrum at the time, however, Monstrosity’s music doesn’t just sound like a handful of riffs semi-randomly thrown together. Harrison and guitarist Jason Morgan have a very keen sense of what a song needs to build up a maximum amount of tension, while even the fastest riffs have something resembling a hook without getting close to pushing the band into melodic death metal territory.

While every song on ‘Millennium’ is worth hearing, the album is at its best when the band switches up gears. ‘Mirrors of Reason’, for instance, is packed with subtle, but impactful tempo changes, ‘Stormwinds’ builds brilliant upper mid-tempo riff upon upper brilliant mid-tempo riff, and ‘Dream Messiah’ varies time feels very effectively. The dark, almost sludgy ‘Fragments of Resolution’ is a stand-out, though it does feel like it should have gone on for two more minutes in order to fully develop. Faster rippers like ‘Slaves and Masters’, ‘Manic’ and the excellent opener ‘Fatal Millennium’ are every bit as good, but work extra well because of how well-thought-out the dynamics on the album are.

And yet, nothing feels forced or convoluted. Ultimately, that would be Monstrosity’s biggest strength – in general, but on ‘Millennium’ in particular. They can come up with fairly complex songs, but deliver them in a way that almost feels effortless. In its forty minutes of playing time, ‘Millennium’ throws a multitude of intricate riffs at the listener at a generally fairly high tempo, but listening to it is never a chore. The powerful, bottom-heavy Scott Burns production definitely helps that, but it all starts with the excellent compositions and musicians that know how not to get in each other’s way.

Recommended tracks: ‘Mirrors of Reason’, ‘Dream Messiah’, ‘Fatal Millennium’, ‘Stormwinds’