Album Review: Monhell – The Last Sign Of Pain
Band: Monhell
Title: The Last Sign Of Pain
Label: Fetzner Death Records
Release date: 25/05/2025
Country: Spain
Format reviewed: High quality digital recording
Album Review: Monhell – The Last Sign Of Pain via Fetzner Death Records by Consanguineus
Monhell is a familiar figure in the Spanish Black Metal underground. Active since 1998, he’s best known for his bass work in the Pagan/Black Metal outfit Beserk where he goes by the name Lord Monk as well as in Kult Et Morte. Teaming up once more with longtime collaborator Penumbre (also active in both bands), Monhell steps forward with a new project under his own name. It might sound a little convoluted, but the result is well worth diving into.
This release, coming out in May on both CD and cassette via German label Fetzner Death Records, sees Monhell taking on nearly all musical duties himself handling the instrumentation and clean vocals while Penumbre unleashes a barrage of screams, growls, and tortured shrieks. The result is a 10-track, 42-minute journey through slow to mid-tempo melodic Black Metal, packed with atmosphere and layered with detail.
While the songwriting and compositions are solid throughout, Penumbre’s vocal delivery might take some adjustment. His voice feels somewhat detached from the mix placed over an otherwise rich and spacious soundscape, it can come across as thin or even spectral. But once acclimated, it becomes part of the record’s unique texture.
The album opens with Fade to Dust, also released as a single, and it immediately sets the tone: wide, immersive production with generous reverb and a melancholic edge. The reverb isn’t overbearing it adds space, giving the track a haunting, cinematic vibe.
Shadows of the Abbey follows, and this one really stands out with its gothic undertones and subtle wave-like textures bringing to mind early Moonspell with a welcome dose of genre fusion that keeps things fresh. The atmosphere is vivid: footsteps echoing in the night, wind stirring leaves around ancient ruins, and distant bells tolling through the gloom.
After a brief instrumental interlude in Paths and Betrayal, we’re taken into The Last Seal, which includes a spoken Spanish passage (a nice touch, even if you don’t understand it). The song continues in the mid-tempo vein, ending with hints of Pagan Metal that recall Monhell’s roots.
One of the album’s true gems is The Lotus and the Endless Grey. Here, the dual vocals of Monhell and Penumbre work in perfect contrast clean and harsh tones weaving together in a melancholic dance.
Later, Bright Falls emerges as the longest and arguably most ambitious track on the record. It leans more into the epic side of atmospheric Black Metal, with shifts in tempo and mood, and some truly captivating vocal work from Monhell that again echoes Moonspell’s more introspective moments.
Closing track A Last Sigh of Pain sums up the album perfectly a well-constructed, emotionally resonant piece that blends melodic Black Metal with an ethereal, almost meditative quality.
All in all, Monhell is an impressive release. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it offers a unique enough perspective within the genre to make it a compelling listen. Atmospheric, thoughtful, and crafted with clear intent, it’s a strong statement from a veteran of the scene one that suggests there’s still more to come. 9/10
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9/10 Epic Storm
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