Criterion
The Dominant

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine a Chinese person trying to ask for directions in Italian from a group of Iraqis who have moved to Lithuania. Well, now imagine a Norwegian band trying to play Old School Death Metal, I mean the stars and stripes kind; as you can easily see, there are a lot of analogies with the previous scenario, but unfortunately, we don't have time to play "spot the difference" together.
Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of extreme metal will understand that Scandinavians are to Classic Death Metal what the House of Savoy is to Italy; both are execrated, yet they somehow always get away with it. In fact, despite being evident that Norwegians should stick to playing Black Metal or, at most, Melodic Death, Criterion and many others dive into a genre that, in their land, neither has a past (and what past it has is not of the best, any reference to Cadaver is purely coincidental) nor a future. Lately, many Brutal Death bands like Immersed In Blood, Spawn Of Possession, Visceral Bleeding, and others are sprouting like mushrooms, which contributes significantly to further depressing the already dull scene of global Death; the peculiarity of these bands is the total lack of flair and excessive rigorism in following the patterns and performing the songs. The result? A Brutal Lullaby lasting thirty or forty minutes per album where what has been done across the Atlantic in the last fifteen years is repeated.

Signed by Morbid Records, Criterion immediately got to work and in 2005 released this “The Dominant”, another link in the chain of albums mentioned above. Unlike the other bands mentioned (who play Brutal Death), our guys draw from Floridian Death of the early nineties, particularly from bands like Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation, Deicide, and naturally Death (period “Human” - “Individual Thought Patterns”).
These latter influences clearly emerge in the solos, which could be interpreted as either a positive or negative aspect: in short, hearing the first fool mimicking Chuck Schuldiner makes one’s hands itch a bit, but ultimately he mimics him quite well, so the irritation passes quickly. However, the songs proceed without thrills, each one flatter than the last in full Vomitory style (right, I forgot to mention them among the failed True Death Metallers); a truly cloying riffing is paired with a similar drumming, except for some flashes of genius, unfortunately short-lived, from the guitarist (like the beautiful semi-melodic arpeggio in “Demoniac Replacement”). The drummer, compared to his peers, is decidedly inferior, although he holds his own decently; the same goes for the singer, who has a monotone growl (with too much echo for my taste) and is repetitive.

The production is good, but as with all albums from these Nordic bands, it's inadequate for the genre, too insubstantial and not "manly" enough. And what’s worse is that, according to Metal Law, it’s my duty to give this album a passing grade; the utter compositional catatonia and stupid lyrics are not enough to sink this CD, which is bolstered by a clean execution and some segments that distinguish it marginally from other albums of uncontrolled and unguaranteed origin (meaning all the trash of this type but even worse).
A begrudging pass for a band that shelters behind executional correctness to make up for an evident lack of ideas; not recommended for demanding or thrifty fans, recommended for millionaires, squanderers, collectors of mediocrity, metalheads who need a CD to stick on the rear window of their Panda to evade the speed camera, and those content with a six-minus like this.