Domination through Impurity – Masochist (2010)

When it comes to Technical Death Metal, 2010 has been a great year; we got amazing releases from Pestifer and Decrepit Birth among others. “Masochist” is another album that will join these ranks since it will propel Domination through Impurity to the spotlight in this very crowded genre.

Fronted by Joe Payne from Nile and Divine Heresy fame, we get a brilliant sophomore album that features traditional Death Metal roots with massive drumming and brilliant guitar acrobatics, showing that is more than the brutal bass player from the previously mentioned band, but a solid guitar player that can shred the shit out of an axe.

With a hefty amount of groove, the band delivers nine tracks of alternating brutal aural aggression and technical wizardry. For over 40 minutes we see the band quickly switch from straight forward double-kick crunchy Death Metal sections to refined stages of brilliant guitar magic, just picture a more ‘Death Metalish’ version of Godless Rising.

Besides the brutal drumming and the solid guitar riffing and shredding, we get some out-of-the-grave hellish vocals that put many other vocalists to shame. Joe’s vocals are very ‘traditional’ in the sense, but when layered with harsher screams they sound very demonic and brutal, sometimes reminding us of Glen Benton in the early days of Deicide.

Any fan of traditional Death Metal and technical music will simply be blow away by the quality of the songs crafted for this release. We have songs like “Becoming One” that showcase the band’s raw power with use of some hints of technical brilliance, something we greatly appreciate since we want to hear brutal music with technical elements, not an exercise in guitar masturbation just for the hell of it. Tracks like “The Cruel Hand of Fate” showcase the versatility of the band and mellows out the flow of the album to prepare the listener for yet another brutal track with “Less Than Human”.

In general, we love how the band writes simple song structures and greatly adorns them with crushing riffs, massive drumming and hellish vocals. It’s true that nothing is ‘highly original’ in this release, but it’s crushing enough to leave you in the ground begging for more. “Masochist” is an excellent release for all fans of the genre, and people that like to mosh until there are bleeding.

Release: 2010

Country: USA