 Reviews - Usurper - Twilight Dominion (Earache Records)
05-06-2004, 12:27 AM
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Usurper - Twilight Dominion (Earache Records)
by Chris Barnes
March 14, 2003
 Whoa. Usurper has just laid down 12 tracks of the most searing, leather n' spikes, fist-pumping, neck snapping, true heavy metal that I've heard in a lonnnnnnnnnnng time.
I've always been a Usurper fan, but Twilight Dominion is the pinnacle of a eleven year long (hell) ride. Starting with a short spell at Norwegian underground label Head Not Found, working their way to Necropolis Records for a two album stint before finding the loving, cash-rich (comparatively) teat of Earache Records. And now we have a new album on our hands.
Usurper is everything great about cult heavy metal - extreme aggression, pure sonic denseness, a middle finger to the mainstream and a foreboding atmosphere of evil. The band takes the best parts of the greats... the rawness of early Darkthrone, the intensity of early Slayer, the mayhem and aggression of Aura Noir and Desaster, the density and atmosphere of Celtic Frost, and blend it into some of the finest metal ever made. Usurper is all about extremes... when they are fast, they are fast. When they are slow, they are slow, and they are unquestionably extremely heavy.
This aforementioned heaviness is due in large part to the sound of the guitars. Neil Kernon, who has worked with Cannibal Corpse and Judas Priest, to name a few, has really brought out the best in Usurper. The guitars sound like something borrowed from Blake's "Dark, Satanic mills" of early Industrial England. Loud, filthy, and choking with heaviness.
I will also lay money down on the bet that opener "Metal Lust" becomes the metal anthem for the spikes and leather crowd. Never has a song captured the elusive X-factor about "Heavy Metal" that we love so much. And what a fucking song. Slays false metal dead.
Vocalist Diabolical Slaughter is also in top form here, replete with his trademark verbal punctuations. I fucking love that! It's the vocalist that can give a band character and color that stands out in my book, and when you hear this guy, there's no doubt it's Usurper.
A true cult metal masterpiece.
 Purchase Twilight Dominion at the Hellride Music Super Store
Visit the Usurper website at www.usurper.us
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