If you like bands that have some media and reputation building around them than you’re going to want to continue to read about Norway’s DOMINANZ and their new album AS I SHINE.
AS I SHINE is my first taste of DOMINANZ and their brand of atmospheric industrial metal. With the album dropping on August 19th I was privileged to get an early listen and see exactly what all the hype has been about lately. In order to get a feel for what I was listening to I went on the hunt to find out a little bit more about industrial metal. I knew I liked it, but had very little background information in it.
Conventional thought seems to lean towards the founders of the genre being mainly WHITE ZOMBIE, MINISTRY, and GOD FLESH. That may be true, but the key identifiers of industrial metal are sampling, synth work, distorted vocal work, and the steel workers sound that is unique in its own right. By using those identifiers you will see that many bands use some of those techniques including thrash bands like MEGADETH and ANTHRAX. SEPULTURA based a lot of their sound on industrial elements and led to being some of the inspiration towards the commercially viable NINE INCH NAILS. Others have come and gone, but it appears that “industrial sound” has influenced metal acts for many years. Even TOMMY LEE created METHODS OF MAYHEM to incorporate more of the sound.
More after the warp:
When I kept looking back I actually found that punk legends KILLING JOKE used many of the sounds in their early work to cross over some of their punk fans. With industrial influencing metal for so many years it’s only natural that bands like DOMINANZ will continue to move the genre forward with a face of its own instead of a bastard hybrid as it’s often betrayed.
What concerned me was could ROY NORDAAS (bass, vocal, guitar, synth), JORN TUNSBERG (guitar), and FRODE GAUSTAD (drums) manage to put together a total album of the industrial sound and still keep it in the wheelhouse of metal that I love. How many samples can you use before it becomes about the electronics and less about the instruments.
AS I SHINE on a whole is a metal record if you are willing to open your mind and go a step further than the crop of 90s nu-metal bands. Songs like INFINITY and the title track AS I SHINE are hard and heavy, but also have a certain commercial appeal that could bridge a massive gap between the dance crowd and the typical metal head.
EXTERNAL SIN and MAN ON TOP come across as nu-metal like, but are harder hitting and show the band uses the influences of early metal to shape what they have become. Their overall production values are wonderful, but I would like to see the band live because the music has a certain rawness to it that would create a great atmosphere in any venue.
The gothic feel adds to the concept of heavy that DOMINANZ is trying to create and I have to think with their commercial viability that it is only a matter of time before this band hits the airwaves in an area near you. What station that will be on is still up for debate.
For me personally AS I SHINE is a metal album that brings the gruesome party right to your doorstep.
www.myspace.com/dominanzofficial
7.5 OUT OF 10 HORNS
Show me your horns,
Martell
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