Domine
Emperor of the Black Runes
5
Yeah, it's an anachropowermetal act, complete with vibratto-ized vocals, galloping songwriting, incredibly awful lyrics and a sickening love of the overblown guitar solo. Oh, and the desire to tell epic tales in epic songs with epic cheese. It's not without merit, either. There is a purity, an almost heartbreaking honesty to this album. These guys, while treading the blood-beaten earth of far greater acts before them, are at least in tune with reality enough to just play the fucking songs. They are not here to rewrite the already rewritten. They are here to pay homage to the music that inspires them. And they do it with simple love of the form.
As much as I would like to just sit and rip this record, I have to honestly admit a fondness for it. No, it's not going to cause me to change my mind about power metal, or even recommend it to general metalheads. But I have to give some credit. I am entertained. The band really sounds like a 1984 Queensryche ripoff band, right down to the singer's falsetto loving Tateness. All musicianship is competent, if a smidge sloppy at times. The guitar solos actually lose the beat in mid scale sometimes, but you may not really notice or care.
The lyrics are enunciated so clearly, even with the singer's heavy accent, that you simply can't ignore them. And that's good, because people should be aware of Arioch the Chaos Star and the Battle Gods of the Universe. This is serious shit. Think about it. Tenacious D could make a whole new career out of Domine...All the trappings are accounted for, from gleaming steeds to anarchic deities. It's a blueprint for building a 1984 basement band.
The production is rather limp and muddy, but somehow the record moves along despite it. Whatever needs to be heard can be, but the CD lacks any oomph or ferocity.
Bottom line: I just don't think anyone will really want this one, but if you do find yourself in the same place it's being played...you might be like me and find yourself smiling and enjoying the ride a little. By no means is this a smashingly original or venomous entry into the power metal pantheon of cheese herders, but it's pure love of this stuff that does give it a little something PM fans might just dig. I will have it stored somewhere for that rare occasion when I want to relive High School.
