Domine
Stormbringer Ruler

I had heard Domine several times, in the form of mixed songs within those compilations that come with metal music magazines. I had never paid much attention to them, then it happened one day during one of my (now very rare for economic reasons) visits to the music store, I didn’t find anything interesting, and hesitating a little... I bought this "Stormbringer Ruler." Well, I certainly expected worse, so I wasn’t disappointed; after all, power is a genre that's easy to listen to within metal, and I rarely dislike it.

In fact, this is their second album, and since I never knew Domine well enough, I don’t know if now, like all the other bands (especially power bands), they have perfected their style and added structural changes, like Labyrinth who seem like a different group with "Freeman"; but this album is the typical "Power" album and nothing more. But it doesn’t mean it’s not good, quite the opposite. These Tuscan guys do quite well. Perhaps what stands out are the heavy metal nuances and epic atmospheres that not all melodic bands have, if nothing else. It's fast, it's technical, it's very epic, the singer Morby has the typical castrato voice that is essential in Power. I’m not sure, but from the themes of the songs, it seems like this album is dedicated to some particular Fantasy tale.

The album announces itself with "The Legend Of Power Supreme," which is the classic introduction, with the female voice announcing an imminent prophecy, with a melancholic background and a modest but nice guitar base; subsequently, "The Hurricane Master" kicks in, a very rhythmic, aggressive song (but not too much) with a beautiful guitar solo, and well-done synchronicity games, but the chorus seems designed like an animated series intro for warriors, and it ends with a vocal scream that tears vocal cords. Following as the third is "Horn of Fate" whose rhythm catches you, it's a very epic track, starting melancholic but leading to melodic heavy sounds with the presence of the typical choral church-style in the choruses. It features dynamic and engaging guitar solos. Following this, "The Ride of the Valkyries" appears to our eardrums, which with arrogance is dedicated to the ride of the Valkyries, a seemingly calm song, it features a relaxing keyboard base and two alternating voices singing over it, it seems like a heroic lament or perhaps even more it looks like a medieval minstrel's song, until the Epicness makes its entry, and it's incredible how much of the "Manowar" style is present in this song. Yes, because the voices and the drum beats seem to take a lot from the famous band. It’s a very nice song in which the keyboard plays an important role, in which the guitar solos seem to invoke fallen warriors and which also features the voice of the Beholder's singer. The album gains a bit of monotony and little interest with "True Leader Of Men," this song is very angry but doesn’t present anything originality or Specialty, it has a pounding drum, an aggressive voice, then towards the center it calms down with the keyboard giving it all a heroic atmosphere and anticipates nice solos, it’s a bit irritating that in the chorus it continues to always and only repeat the song title. The next song remedies, "The Bearer of the Black Sword" very particular, lasts seven minutes begins with an epic base where a classical guitar acts, at first moment it seems to be this the real calm song of the album but suddenly an aggressive and gloomy voice announces a burst of electric guitar riffs and a change of atmosphere. however, the last part of the song is more beautiful, in the concluding phase. The album comes to an end, "The Fall Of The Spiral Tower" is fired, a purely heavy metal track with aggressive guitars, then "For Evermore" which is the typical power ballad (Have you noticed that there is no power album without the usual calm ballad?) A piano plays, Morby gets accompanied by the Beholder’s girl again, who only says "eh" and "ah". Knowing colossal and masterpieces of Power Ballads like Coming Home by Strato and many others one could say this could also fade away, but why not let it flow... And (some would say finally) the last song, "Dawn Of A New Day," majestic, powerful, quite riffy, aggressive at times, epic and pleasant to listen to.

In conclusion, what can I say: if you are Power metal fans fond of the fantasy and epic style, this album could be a gem, if you're metalheads in search of new sounds maybe this album won’t tell you anything. It is thus a mediocre album, great for certain aspects, sufficient for others, and trivial for the last ones. Overall, honestly, it contains more letdowns than moments to highlight but I insist on saying that in a collection of original albums it doesn’t hurt, and it makes a sufficient impression.