Austalia’s Bastardizer continues the trend of interesting bands coming out of Australia’s homegrown metal scene, serving up good old fashioned death metal mixed with some clear thrash elements that could possibly be seen as “blackened thrash” if you’re that into your sub-genres.
At first listen you could be forgiven for thinking the four-piece hail from the frozen North, not the sun-kissed opposite side of the planet with some likeness to Satyricon being brought to your mind amongst their quick tempo and furious rhythms coupled with circle pit inducing drumming. Furious and intense tracks such as ‘Crimson Trenches’ and ‘Death Cult’ just call out for you to get moving with Bastardizer’s brand of incredibly listenable metal. Fans of old school death, thrash and heavy metal will have no problem finding something to enjoy with Dawn of Domination.
Don’t let the album art fool you, there is a lot of fun to be had with this record and some surprises along the way for those not familiar with the band, which I myself wasn’t when going into this review. ‘Whiskey’till Death’ is one such gem, a clear tribute to the late, great Lemmy, it feels like the Aussies channeled his very spirit into a fitting tribute. ‘Up The Ante’ follows this and brings back the aggression with some delightfully absurd and dark lyrical content.
‘Hellions of the Oath’ and ‘Midnight in Hell’ offer up pure back to back headbanging fury akin to Hellripper or Power Trip as the album gears up for it’s close. Penultimate track ‘Mongrels Wrath/The Depraved Nazarene Whore’ (extra points scored for the title) offers some punishing drums and riffage before ‘Unholy Allegiance’ (those points now lost here for that title) closes the album with death soaked, weighty track.
All in all Dawn of Domination is well worth a listen, it encompasses everything you could really want from a sub-green spanning band. From its self-aware song titles to it’s over the top, black metal-esque lyrics and it’s precise and tight sound and production.
