Monastyr - Never Dreaming (1994)

   Monastyr's one and only full-lenght album is another less known, but excellent old school Polish death metal classic, that was extraordinary not only in the local scene, but in the main extreme metal scene too.
   In all-round they reached the level of the main scene, and by "Never Dreaming" they gave a new tone to old school death metal. Simple, basic themes leading the album, which may sound refreshing especially because these are nice reference to the very basics of extreme metal. The Hellhammer song they covered for closing the album, perfectly fits to their own songs. The rough distorted sound turned their music very heavy, and this combination with the animalistic vocal effects created a so sick impression that couldn't be heard often even in this style. While the main trend was about progression and to try unusual style combinations to exhaust even the last drops from a dying genre, Monastyr tried the opposite way, back to musical minimalism and overwhelming heaviness, that became trend over a decade later. However, this kind of simple but brutal sound never gets old.