Melancholy, inescapable heartache, night of despair, loss, exhausting, plaintive tears, velvet darkness. Just a few of the buzz-words in the promotional information that the record company kindly arms us writers with when preparing to do a review of this latest release by Russian Gothic/Doom Metal band Dominia. So already pretty confident that I’m not in for three quarters of an hour of uplifting Symphonic Power Metal and the escapism that might ensue, instead a prolonged time of utter misery, despondency and depression awaits…a bit like watching Eastenders on catch-up…or the nightly BBC News…
I suppose it’s just a matter of adjusting your perspectives really, it’s no good going into this album wishing for glimmers of light, hope and a happy ending – this brand of Metal has the musical opinion that life is shit, then it gets a bit more shit, then if you’re lucky you get the merciful release of death. But not for Dominia, they want to make it even worse! This time around they explore the possibility of being a lonely spirit trapped for eternity in the very place of total desolation that was the cause of all that darkness in the first place. So, wading knee-deep into their mire of misery, you are encompassed in a raft of slow, reflective, heavy (in all senses of the word) arrangements, utilising harsh and sung male vocals, enabling you to hear elements of My Dying Bride, Crematory, Lake of Tears, Katatonia and Tiamat amongst others.
However, the ingenious stroke of incorporating a full-time violinist in the bands ranks adds much more interest and versatility to a style that, let’s be honest, doesn’t have much new to offer given that it gained much of its popularity in the late 90’s. The haunting melodies that the violin adds, takes the pressure away from the guitars to carry the instrumental hooks like, say, Paradise Lost would do. It also means hints of short-lived, innovative Gothic Metal band The Sins Of Thy Beloved creep in as a welcome breath of fresh air, the violin being used as well as a tool of melancholy, but also to give brief tantalizing glimpses of hope…before inevitably and deliberately being swept away once more on the dark tide. But that’s the point, the story is delivered on the waves of gloom that the music allows and Dominia absolutely excel at their chosen form of Dark Metal. They readily wallow in their self-induced pit of despair, taking any willing desperate soul along with them on a journey of abundant sadness. If this is you then Dominia will not disappoint you – or they will totally, utterly, miserably and wonderfully disappoint you if you see what I mean…
(7/10 Andy Barker)
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