Review: Centuries of Decay – A Monument to Oblivion

Style: Progressive death metal (mixed vocals, mostly harsh)
Recommended for fans of: Rivers of Nihil, Ulcerate, Gojira
Country: Canada
Release date: 1 August 2025

At the Subway, we certainly believe that much of the best music lies deep underground. The perceptive among you might even have noticed this belief is, indeed, the premise of our blog. But the truth is, when sampling an album by a band with a monthly listener count barely cracking three digits, more often than not, the release sits somewhere between unenjoyable and unremarkable. Whether it’s an understandably amateurish production, lack of direction, underdeveloped songwriting, or all these things, many of the albums we hear fall short—and the limitations are usually evident within minutes. You gotta shuck a lot of oysters to find a pearl.

So cue my surprise when putting on Centuries of Decay’s sophomore album, A Monument to Oblivion. At the time of the album’s release, the Canadian prog-death act had a paltry 200 or so monthly listeners on Spotify,¹ and eight years had passed since their debut. Yet, as the first riffs hit—all massive, intuitively strung together, and backed by thunderous drumming and a polished production—it seemed we had uncovered something special. In our world, it’s rare to hear a band so instantly and obviously professional. A Monument to Oblivion’s opening few minutes firmly impressed, but would the rest of the album’s hour-long runtime sound as, well, monumental?

Centuries of Decay deliver an aurally dense brand of progressive death metal—a sturdy wall built of thick riffing and heavy atmosphere. There’s a weight to their sound reminiscent of Ulcerate, along with the occasional flash of dissonance, but the band also offer a Gojira-esque accessibility and pack in plenty of melody. Powerful harsh vocals pummel, while cleans are used frequently for texture and variety. This sonic blend is metered perfectly in opener “Cauterize,” an infectious yet crushing track of nearly ten minutes that stands as one of this year’s best. After its tension-building intro, the song propels forward through a series of wonderfully heavy passages, letting up only to supply a hell of a chorus that features one of the catchiest guitar leads in recent memory. 

A Monument to Oblivion might lure you in with its heft, but its artfully executed, melodic sections are what grab hold. The bridges halfway through both “Between the Waves of Grief” and “Wake” are simply phenomenal, each evoking a beautifully bleak, desert-like aura that wouldn’t be out of place on a Dvne record. “To Dust,” meanwhile, shifts from aggressive to subdued at its midpoint, building patiently atop wistful clean guitars until exploding into a colossal outro. The sharp, melodic guitars in the final minute of the title track can cut you to pieces, and the weeping leads throughout the chunky, slow-burning “The Great Divide” are enough to leave you shattered—take your pick. Consistent across all these passages, and the whole album really, is Derrick Doucette’s ingenious drumming.² Not only is he an absolute beast behind the kit, but his deft cymbal work and sense of flow actively stand out even among the other band members’ strong performances. Just as I find the urge to hum along to the guitar melodies, I also find the urge to click and hiss along to the drums. 

Although A Monument to Oblivion’s quality never falters across its seven tracks, as the old adage goes, there can be too much of a good thing—and here, that applies just slightly to the album’s heavier features. The pulverizing riffs, aggressive passages, and chunky rhythms are excellent but often tonally and atmospherically similar, and they begin to blend together over the course of an hour. By the time the closing track “Tempest” hits, I’m about ready for a different feel. Had the band been a bit more concise in their compositions, some material could have been cut or curtailed, and the listening experience made slightly more impactful as a result. Nonetheless, because the album’s so well-written and performed—even if a tad bloated—this all amounts to a minor quibble. 

In a year replete with strong prog-death albums,³ Centuries of Decay manage to join the upper echelon. All the more impressive, upon the release of A Monument to Oblivion, the band was virtually unknown, or perhaps forgotten during the eight years since their debut. Yet, the album sounds like it came from a household name—well, to the extent any progressive death metal band can be a household name. For my own sake, I hope Centuries of Decay harness the momentum and bit of renown this album has earned them and put out new material on a swifter cycle. Another eight years is simply too long to wait to hear again from a band this formidable.

Recommended tracks: Cauterize, Between the Waves of Grief, The Great Divide
You may also like: Hath, Blighted Eye, Orgone, Dormant Ordeal
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives

Label: Independent

Centuries of Decay is:
– Devin Doucette (guitars, vocals)
– Rob McAllister (guitars, backing vocals)
– Anton Zhura (bass)
– Derrick Doucette (drums)

1. That number as since grown to about 3,000 monthly listeners. ↩︎
2. Ever versatile, Derrick is also credited with the album art and, along with guitarist and vocalist (and brother) Devin Doucette, the lyrics. ↩︎
3. Take a look at which albums we’ve rated 8/10 or higher this year… ↩︎