adg211288 Intellectus Iudicat Veritatem is the debut demo release from Belgium doom metal act Monads. The demo was originally released as a run of fifty tapes in 2011, which sold out rapidly. In 2012 the demo was reissued as a CD release by Ordo MCM. Although Intellectus Iudicat Veritatem is branded as a demo it is actually closer to a full-length album in terms of professionalism and running time.

Monads are a doom metal group at heart but are not seemingly content with sticking with just one particular aspect of doom metal for their music, mixing funeral doom metal with death/doom metal. The tracks featured, five in total, are all long compositions with only one, Within the Circle of Seraphs, not making the ten minute mark. The music relies on atmospherics to keep it flowing for the most part, although there are also cases where melody plays an important role in how Intellectus Iudicat Veritatem impacts the listening experience. It is heavy, atmospheric, and thoroughly evil sounding. A great doom metal experience in other words. I am unfortunately (for me, mostly) not a doom metal expert so have little experience to go with on how well Monads perform and merge these two distinct styles of doom metal, but what I can tell from my outsider view as it were that Intellectus Iudicat Veritatem is, as previously stated, a high quality and professional release. In some ways it’s hard to believe that it is a first demo release from the group.

In Intellectus Iudicat Veritatem Monads made their first mark on the metal world in the right way. That should be evident by the fact that a label picked them up and reissued this demo so fast, rather than simply signing the band and getting them to record a debut full-length (or perhaps in Monads’ case, a technical debut full-length, since Intellectus Iudicat Veritatem already has the running time and professional standard) from scratch. A great album tier rating is deserved.

8.4/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org))