6th September 2021

Review: “The Architecture Of Oppression” by Dominicide

A lot has happened in the World of Glaswegian Death infused Thrash Metal act Dominicide since the release of their 2017 self titled album. An exodus of members has led to a line up shift they sees original guitarist Craig Law the last man standing and for this new outing four years on he also takes on vocal duties. He’s joined by Louis Chesters who handles guitars and backing vocals while bassist Liam McCafferty and drummer Oskar Mazurek hold down the rhythm section. Recorded at Matchbox Sound and Mixed and Mastered by Meyrick De La Fuente (Death Remains, Monasteries, Exist Immortal) of Floodgate Audio, “The Architecture Of Oppression” is something of a fresh start…

The opening burst of “The Empowered” goes off like a Molotov cocktail at the very start of “The Architecture Of Oppression” as Dominicide go full supernova, setting an electric pace to accompany the fire breathing vocals of Craig Law that make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. The band throwdown the guantlet the opposition and perhaps the former band members with a rampant display of fretboard burning riffs that sit in the gap between Thrash and Death Metal in a cut about rising to overcome all odds and strike back at the naysayers. Like Trivium at their fiercest and on steroids “The Orchestraitors” some how manages to go faster and harder with Speed Thrash riffs and feral vocals as Law spits venous fury throughout. It has to be said his decision to not only lift this band up by the bootstraps and rebuild from scratch has paid off in spades. Whether or not he saw himself as a vocalist, he certainly has what it takes, the only question being how long they are going to need to spend in the rehearsal space to be able to take music this energetic to the stage because there is a certain amount of hold onto your hats white knuckle ride about it on the EP, so it’s going to need to be perfect to avoid sounding like a train wreck, each cut leaving scorched earth in its wake. “Theocracy” keeps up the blistering pace while introducing some acoustic guitar work at the start and Mazurek is on fire behind the kit with a whirlwind of percussive battery that pile drives this one home like nails into a coffin. Death Thrash maybe an over saturated genre but that doesn’t mean it’s any less worthy of listening, especially when a band pulls out all the stops and does something that blows the opposition away, so when the phenomenal leads of this cut add fuel to an already raging towering inferno of a funeral pyre, you need to stand up and take note. The slow down to skull crushing Downtempo finale in this one is nothing short of perfection itself. Whether “Reincarnate” is an ode to stating the band over before it’s too late or a message to humanity to change the ways as it’s destroying the planet, it’s as deep and meaningful to Law as the other cuts here as is demonstrated by a throat splitting vocals performance. Despite the melodies of the stunningly vibrant leads of this one he avoids the indulgences of clean vocal parts, instead continuing to obliterate his larynx one chord at a time. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger and with this Dominicide are back with a vengeance and out for blood [8.5/10]

Track listing