The New Dominion
Procreating the Undivine ()
Wydane przez Self-financedRok wydania 2013Kraj HollandNapisał Wouter7
Do you remember that brief window in time when Gothenburg death metal wasn’t completely impotent and toothless? I do and so does The New Dominion from Holland, apparently. The New Dominion was one of the last signings of Neurotic Records before they sank into disrepair and irrelevancy. Of the membership bassist Marco Van Stip (Flesh Made Sin, who provided session bass on this record) and drummer Yuma Van Eekelen are internationally known, with the latter doing session work for both Brutus and tech death metal outfit Pestilence. The rest of the band consists of humble unknowns who fill their respective slots with finesse. This sounds a lot like Detonation (first two albums), but it is not nearly as singularly minded on breakneck speed. The vocals obviously go for that Tompa Lindberg (At the Gates, Lock Up, ex-The Crown) sneer and alternating those with lower register grunts isn’t a new practice at all, but it remains highly effective when used by competent musicians. Some of the choppier and technical moments remind of Textures circa “Polars” and “Drawing Circles”. Having a solid production is everything in extreme metal these days, and luckily The New Dominion have found a healthy balance between digital precision and organic warmth. On the surface “Procreating the Undivine” is about as high profile as they come to independently released records. Artwork by Dark Tranquillity member Niklas Sundin for Cabin Fever Media, while the lay-out was handled by Joel Sta. The record was co-produced by Bart Hennephof at Split Second Sound Studios (Textures, In-Quest) in Amsterdam and the band’s own Final Focus Studios in Tilburg. With Callenish Circle, Detonation and God Dethroned no longer being around things seem to align splendidly for The New Dominion to make a splash in the international scene. There’s certainly an audience and a market for this type of technically proficient melodic death metal and with the right distributor and label partner The New Dominion could very well be the new Dutch promise for this genre. As of now, let us just see how things develop for this band.
www.thenewdominionband.com
