Review by Tomek on August 25, 2013.

Once I read info sheet on The New Dominion, I said to myself: that one is going to kick ass!! With album produced/mixed and drums played by Yuma van Eekelen (Exivious, ex-Pestilence), recording done by Bart Hennephof (Textures), mastering by Jens Bogren with guest appearances by Robin Zielhorst on fretless bass (ex Cynic, Exivious) and Niels Adams on vocals (Centurian, Prostitute Disfugerment) how can it not?

Band started in 2006 in Holland and debuted year later with a demo “... And Black Gleams The Eye”, their first official release “... And Kindling Deadly Slumber” came out in 2009 and what we have here is their latest effort “Procreating The Undivine”. Not to go into categorizing much, I have to say that Death Metal with lots of Groove and some Technical twists and very modern sound is a good start to identifying it. That is a very dry info but music on this disc is not.

Production on this album is top notch making all sounds absolutely accessible which in turn makes all brutality and carnage scalpel-sharp. I am used to it if it comes to Progressive Metal, but to achieve something like that with Death Metal is close to genius. Digital perfection and cleanliness but yet full of atmosphere and intense old style feeling, full of chunky grooves, thrashy breakdowns, tech vortexes and all that skillfully positioned in intense, unconventional Death Metal of brutal yet melodic kind.

Yuma’s drumming is well balanced and very intense making me think that he must be part octopus or something. How is he doing what he’s doing here with pair of hands and two legs is beyond me. Drumming is a definite highlight of the album for me but rest of the team doesn’t fall behind at all. Fat sounding rumble of the bass guitar shook my living room, and the violently chugging rhythm section almost gave me heart arrhythmia with its dynamic and brilliantly diverse pounding. That is something that’s for me is missing from a lot of new releases but it is very constant on this one. It is powerful, selective, groovy and brutal at the same time. Once you add precise, technical and yet juicy sounding guitars and top it off with deep growls/grunts alternating with maniacal screams sonic devastation must follow. Lyrics cover the never-ending acts of violence conceived by mankind and each song on the record is written from a perspective of different individual. Pretty cool idea that completes the music and makes reading lyric sheet very interesting. Lots of room for interpretation but that’s how I like it anyway. It is complemented by cover art done by Niklas Sundin of Dark Tranquillity. His work illustrates the whole thing with disturbing conviction.

Ten songs on the album give us almost an hour of excellence. Even though I have couple things that bother me a little, I have to say that I will come back to “Procreating The Undivine” in the near future and I can recommend this one to pretty much anyone that craves for some Groove Tech Death. I wish The New Dominion all the best because songs like ‘Perverted To Perfection’ or ‘Atonement’ made me grin with pleasure. Somehow I think that that’s what they’ve been shooting for. The CD booklet states “Insanity knows no boundaries” – true that.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 10
Originality: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 9 out of 10