Our Domain

Prophecy is mildly known in the brutal death scene, primarily for having some of the worst lyrics in death metal history. It's true; I won't even quote any, they're so embarrassingly bad. Suffice to say this band thinks that talking about how 'fuckin' brutal' the Texas DM scene is is somehow an appropriate topic for a death metal song. This proves that it's most certainly not.

This band plays a fairly archtypal variety of TXDM where slam is certainly an influence though not at all the predominant one and equal weight is given to blast and groove. The primary influences that seem to be present are from NYDm artists, primarily Dying Fetus and Internal Bleeding. The tremolo riffing is exceedingly amelodic in nature (or at least only melodic in a very death metal sense), and there's never a burst of melodic lead guitar or anything that would make you think these guys are capable of softening up. Song structures are dominated by blast beats, tremolo riffs, and a rather strained-sounding grunt for vocals, with NYDM-style grooves coming in at regular intervals to release tension. It's a very conventional method of death metal songwriting, but it's tried and true and doesn't fail here.

'Our Domain' mostly succeeds due to its fairly varied presentation. All the songs are relatively unique (at least in relation to each other) in structure, and the album has a very good sense of pacing, particularly in track order and other meta-structuring. The songs are quick and snapping, without an excess of repetition but enough to establish grooves where they need to be, but otherwise zipping from tremolo riff to tremolo riff while the technical drumwork keeps pace and adds flavor to the proceedings. While the vocals are a definite weak spot, reminding me of a less skilled Fleshgrind in delivery, the rest of the performances are certainly up to snuff and never miss a beat despite the quick and snaking structures of the songs.

This isn't a particularly unique album in the TXDM scene, but it's a good articulation of that particular variety of brutal death's style, and a good intro to the scene's overall sound. Is it a necessity for those already versed in the style or in brutal death in general? Probably not, but it's certainly nothing that would be a regrettable entry to one's collection. It's a solid if relatively unoriginal brutal death CD with enough material to last through multiple listens, and there's nothing wrong with that.