Review by Alex on December 24, 2020.

Another one of those times where it feels as though you've been left behind and are a late comer to the party. Abythic formed in 2015 and are back with their 3rd cold caress of a death/doom album titled Dominion of the Wicked. It's only four tracks packing a total of about 35 minutes but it operates like cocaine, taking almost immediate effect after application/ingestion. Dominion of the Wicked feels like the heartless doctrine of some sort of dictator being coerced onto you. Yet all the while amidst it's dreaded anger and dictatorship, therein lies a melancholy that almost sounds like its administering of grave horrors are being committed against its will. Bands that come to mind range from Nightfell, My Dying Bride and Bolt Thrower, to Druid Lord and Sempiternal Dusk. Dominion of the Wicked will surely reach out and freeze solid your heart then melt your frostbitten ways with the warm sobbing wails of depression.

It does indeed feel like a sincere death/doom record thorough and through. Like being wounded and having that wound take additional damage immediately after, the album builds to a burden everlasting. The guitars here are the real culprits, suspect zero if you ask me. Solely for the changing tides that'd move from distress to sheer despondency and hopelessness. The melody of any given track seems to tell a story but leaves enough space for the listener to be cropped into the art to a point where he/she could feel like the music is a representation of thoughts or experiences of that person. Sometimes the pace is even slower to extend into a more funeral doom approach while taking the listener to haunted atmospheres through the inclusion of synthesized dirge choirs. Listing the names of these songs I feel would only rob you of the full experience so I will not, instead I'll encourage you to play Dominion of the Wicked front to back without skips or breaks as to engulf and exploit your emotions wholeheartedly. Not necessary to say much more about this album, given the music does most of the talking.

Thoughts refrigerated remorselessly. Eat with the glutton, sleep with the restless.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10