When Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman said, “War is hell,” he wasn’t exaggerating. He watched people being ground into piles of rotting flesh while leading the Union army during the U.S. Civil War, so you’d think he’d be a pretty good authority on the subject. Ever since metal was born, the subject matter has inspired songs, records, and bands, and because war never stops, we’ll sadly have fodder forever.
Australian death metal band Domination Campaign sunk their teeth into war as a subject matter, and on their second record “A Storm of Steel,” the brutality to which humans subject each other is front and center. The band—vocalist/guitarist/bassist Jason Peppiatt and drummer Joe Haley—also play together in Psycroptic, but here the brutality is more pronounced, the agony continually in the air. Over eight tracks and 34 minutes, the follow-up to 2021’s “Onward to Glory” amplifies the war-torn horrors and plasters that all over their blistering death metal that can leave you sore.
“Time to Die” mashes from the start, a pounding hammer that opens wounds as the shrieks dice flesh. The playing is swarming and later thrashy, easily scrambling your brains, mashing with a ruthless force. “The Iron Beast” lumbers and burns, unloading with force that aims right for your chest. The guitars torch, and the vocals land punches that bloody your mouth, eventually turning toward calculated madness that mangles at the finish. “Winds of Death” stomps hard, melodies and vicious howls turning tornadic, a hint of a hardcore feel bleeding into the picture. The storm picks up from there, smashing and crushing before finally giving mercy when it fades. “D-Day” is crunchy and driving, inserting more speed, completely waylaying as it digs in its claws. Guitars heat up and scorch flesh, the leads smear with strangeness, and punches land hard and blacken eyes.
“Storm the Lines” is channeled and bashes, the leads causing dizziness, vicious howls adding a vice grip of pressure. “Fear is your enemy!” Peppiatt wails as molten chaos flows freely and leaves choking ash behind. “Pit of Disease” brings swarming guitars and scathing screams, a pace that stomps with power, smoldering amid fiery playing. The drumming crushes with ruthless aggression, and the vocals insert a dagger into your ribcage that is twisted violently. “141 Days of Terror” keeps world wars in focus, this one about the Somme Offensive in 1916, and it’s darker when it starts, the violence slowly escalating as the track tightens. The vocals sting as the guitars dare, heaviness slamming as nasty howls add more agony, finally fading into ominous shadows. “Death Landing” closes the album and launches into an immediate assault, spiraling out of control, piercing prone flesh. The playing gets dizzying and then thrashy, the uptick in intensity noticeable, the track slowly burning out into madness.
“A Storm of Steel” has war at heart, and that’s pretty apparent from just the first few minutes of this record. Domination Campaign might be treading well-travelled terrain, but it’s not like you ever can run out of inspiration since we, as humans, seem hellbent on killing each other forever. This record is a reminder war is hell, bloody, and unforgiving, and the clutches of death metal seem like the most logical way to process these ongoing horrors.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/dominationcampaign/
To buy the album, go here: https://shop.prostheticrecords.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://www.prostheticrecords.com/
Meat Mead Metal 