Infernvs Dominatvs

There could hardly be any extreme metal bands that are packed with hypersonic speed, blistering musicianship and well thought out song writings in East Malaysia, let alone from my country. Although there is a few native bands that can outdo import acts from neighbouring region, some of these groups either would suck back into the unknown or just disassembled halfway through their career. However, one band in particular that came from Kota Kinabalu really changed at how I perceived certain issues about metal over here.

After being introduced by a friend who by now has gained significant notoriety for going against Mastika (West Malaysia propagandistic equivalent to Reader’s Digest in physicality) due to the latter defamatory allegation that all metalheads in Southeast Asia are apostate, I managed to acquire the last surviving copy of this brilliant Infernvs Dominatvs mini CD. What is so brilliant about it? Having listened to its snippet on YouTube, I was totally intrigued as to how the whole EP would sound like. Honestly speaking, this triumvirate of destruction and chaos has able to exert the most crushing death metal I have ever heard over the years. Dethrone the Emperor opens up with a cacophonic commotion of what appears to be the sound made by people in some kind of protest and quickly interrupted by blasting instruments. Careful listen may reveal that the band’s influence harking back to Krisiun, Deicide and even old Slayer in terms of speed. On this track alone, it shows how careful they have been in structuring out every single beat with synchronised precision. There is almost no room left for mistake (at least not to my hearing) as the galloping drums become the greatest highlight on this piece of wrathful art. Yes. It is for me something that is completely new; having the opportunity to listen at native Sabahan dude working wholeheartedly behind his drum kit. The blast beats are there and they are very fast. I mean fast. He even fits his fills nicely around 2 minutes into Dethrone the Emperor. Subsequent tracks also displayed similar outright brutality in the face of sheer competency of this trio. Other than the amazing drumming, the guitar works are also breathtaking which in this case, they persistently linger in my mind for being some of the best palm mute, shredding and solos of 2011. The band also takes some mid-paced moments as exemplified on Hill of the Poisonous Tree; a song that details about the horrific bodily torture inflicted upon inmates in a school, which is transformed into a prison. If I were to write some lyrics about torture and death, they might as well be similar to what they have written. Well, no plagiarism here boys. Being a band springing out from Sabah, the essence of head – hunting is quite inseparable from Crown ov Horns with this being mentioned in The Machete. The title speaks for itself. Be warned; you might as well lose your head if you mess with this band!

The only thing that brought down the excellence of this EP is obviously the production. Overly produced and compressed, the overall audio punch does not leave any breathing air for dynamism. In some cases, every instrument is gratuitously loud that they seem to fight with each other. It is not totally a negative thing but I think Crown ov Horns and their sound engineer should sit down and discuss about not to rip my speakers apart. Still, the production is top notch with minor flaw evident of loudness war. So I would recommend anyone interested or simply into the real deal to buy this CD. You won’t find its mp3 anywhere on the web because this band is quite famous over our horizon but no yours for that matter. Excellent works from these guys. They deserved international recognition and they need your help to spread the words around. What are you waiting for?