Review Summary: With 15 years under their belts, it’s good to know Impious are still kicking ass, and as a matter of fact, they are doing it more now then they have ever before
It’s the end of 2009, and apparently, (great) new releases are coming in faster then ever before this year. Swedish death/thrash outfit Impious is another one of those bands who decided to release their new album in the end of 2009. Rather than wait until the new year arrives (so they could start from a clean sheet), Impious decided to release Death Domination now, in the dark, gloomy November. Good move I say, as now we can enjoy their latest masterwork sooner.
I was very surprised when I read reviews about their 2007 affair
Holy Murder Masquerade, and discovered that many of those reviews categorized the album as harsh melodeath. Afterall, Impious was an already well-known death/thrash metal act. I took a look into the album and turns out the reviews were right, it actually was melodeath. So, until I had heard their new song „Abomination Glorified”, I thought Impious' new album will once again be a competent, but not-too-special melodeath album. Luckily I was way off.
Death Domination, despite it’s somewhat cliché and unpromising name, is a beastly collection of ten, furious death metal songs influenced by thrash. Impious have shed any melodeath characteristics they had before, and are straight up demolishing it now with their new album. It’s fast, it’s aggressive, it’s brutal, and it’s mean as hell.
The essential requirement for death metal is that the guitar riffs would be well-executed, heavy, gripping and thrashin’. Well, Impious definitely does succeed in that. Sweet guitar lines and crunchy, picked riffs follow each other in this furious music storm. What’s even more notable though, is the drumming. Straight from the first track, the blast beats and cymbal’s mash are a pleasure to hear, and the drums pound fiercely till the end of the album, not letting up at all. Between lead guitar’s high-gain howl, mad blast beats and muddy double bass/bass guitar notes, there is still room for the vocalist Martin Åkesson to also shine. True, he could use his powerful death growl a bit more, but his raspy shout also does the job well enough.
In the end though, despite the generous praise I have given this album, it must be noted that Impious doesn’t do anything new, or even extra special here, with this 36 minutes long blast fest. Sure, the drums are pounding rapidly and the guitars are spitting out crunchy, heavy, gripping, and highly satisfying riffs, but that's just the way it has to be done in the death metal genre. Still, don’t get me wrong, Death Domination is a beast of an album, and is highly recommended to everyone into the rougher styles of metal. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary.
