Death Monolith, the new album from Chicago’s Like Rats, is a major step forward for the band and it’s easy to see why with tracks like “World Devourer,” streaming below. Taking a substantially more death metal approach to their music than 2016’s II, Like Rats tear through riff after riff, blast after blast, groove after groove like their lives depend on it.
The opening track to Death Monolith, “World Devourer” comes in hot. There’s no ambience, no subtle lead-in, just an avalanche of tremolo picking, blast beats and death growls. Of course, Like Rats haven’t forgotten their hardcore roots—both “World Devourer” and Death Monolith are littered with grooves that sound like Cannibal Corpse crossed with Harm’s Way (guitarist Todd Nief and drummer Drew Brown are members of Hate Force).
“‘World Devourer’ is one of the more cosmic horror-themed songs on the record,” vocalist Dan Polak explains of the track. “It has a lot of Kirby and Lovecraftian influence where a celestial being awakens from a catatonic state to feed off the life force of the universe that surrounds it, including habitable planets. There’s a galactic storm brewing that nothing can stop it and all one can do is admire the necessary emptiness it has wrought.”
Stream “World Devourer” below and score a pre-order of Death Monolith through Hibernation Release.