Time for another black metal strike, this time from Latvia. Dark Domination present their third album, 'Rebellion 666'. If the title is clichéd, the music doesn't offer anything new either.

'Discovering the True Ways of Satan' is as simple as black metal can get. This 2-riff song, with a middle part of French guy singing some jolly tune, kind of leaves me open-gobbed. Then comes the first spoken part of the album. Abyssal synths with really slowed-down speech that doesn't make any sense, and demonic voices. To tell the truth, these don't raise any evil atmosphere either. Sad thing is, that these spoken pieces follow every song and they last around 2 and a half minutes! Crap...

I take 'Rebellion 666' as the first song proper, and a good song it is too, especially fantastic chorus riff and double bass drum drive are fucking good, and the song oscillates from fast attack to slower creepier parts. Creepiness continue on 'Tormentor of Orthodoxy', which presents more depressed feelings and reminds me of some Dracula movie soundtrack at times. To this point, the music has had more central European vibe to it, but 'Af Kold Is Er Mit Hjerte' sounds as Norwegian as the band from Latvia can sound, and not for the language. Immortal is the first band that it reminded me of, thanks to that cold middle part. 'When Master Satan Returns' continue on with the Norwegian style, but is the weakest composition so far if not counting the opener, even though this is more raging song. So too is 'Together We Rape the Son of God' both raging and predictable, but that chanting on chorus sounds nasty. The album's finest moments are far gone and 'Baphomet' cannot bring them back, continuing the predictable and boring feel. Bagpipes on outro 'War March Against Christianity' are something fresh, and it was about time too. Bonus track 'Edasi, Saatana Lapsed!' is the Latvian version of the title track. Lyrics seem to be usual war against Christianity. Raping the son of god? Carnally or physically?! Okay, I'm an atheist and against religions, so I get these Satanic lyrics far better than religious ones anyway.

The sound is in-your-face, but also too clean. This sounds earthly, not something coming from the abyssal depths of icy caverns. Guitars should have more bite, definitely. Kick drums dominate the lower frequencies, but otherwise the drums are too trebly and snare sounds flat. However, blast beats just aren't very intense. Vocals are typical black metal rattle. Antonin Delas paintings decorate the booklet, by the way.

At first it was Unlord (and their 'Schwarzwald platter) that came to my mind when 'Discovering...' started to play (the riffs, the speed, the sound), but thankfully there's more to this than this overtly simplified stuff. However, the brightest momentum is the first half of the album, minus the spoken interludes.

Rating: 4+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/13/2006 12:48