Born out of another pandemic itch to scratch, Distant Dominion contains a wealth of experience amongst the lineup – with members being a part of extreme acts like Mortal Decay, Hypoxia, Krieg, and In the Fire to name just a few. The quintet spent a couple of years getting this material together, and we finally hear the fruits of this labor in a debut album Ripping Through Time. The eight-song effort contains a death/thrash base upon which elements of old school metal, technical flair, and even pure classic rock elements factor into the final workings to make this quite an aural thrill ride.
The sci-fi-oriented blitzkrieg, universal shake ups, and subsequent evolution of the aftermath take on the crux of the lyrical themes – the musical support up to the diverse atmosphere present to challenge the listeners through its diverse, dynamic arrangements. The foundational riffs and pounding tempos traverse the death, thrash, and semi-progressive landscape while never forgetting to inject the proper amount of groove accents that cause incessant hair windmill or devil horn approval motions. The relentless speed of the title track should make everyone quiver, Ryan Moll and Joe Gordon attacking their fretboards manically in classic Slayer, Sepultura or Kreator fashion next to some Steven Dever bass spots that rival the best of Atheist and Death. At other times the rockin’ atmosphere appears in bouncy fashion, “The Witches Ritual” plus “Solar Flare Tsunami” combining that aspect into some tremolo runs, blast beats, and dual blackened screams / haunting clean melodies while the leads galvanize in outer space splendor. You don’t have to worry about vocalist Shawn Riley living up to the bill through his savage screams, deep growls, and occasional alternative / clean delivery duties – he comes out all guns blazing for opener “Alchemystic” and tears his larynx out on the morose, epic closer “No Way Out” where the slower synth segments bring things to a bone chilling conclusion.
Those who wish to seek out something a little more left field outside of the predictable death/thrash scene would be wise to discover Distant Dominion. Ripping Through Time takes a lot of late 80s to mid-90s influences and creates an exciting journey that will leave listeners desiring more – which should gain a healthy underground buzz that can only get stronger when the band entertains the people live.