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Rating: The metal offered by these five guys is a great example of Swedish death, featuring a lot of aggression but also plenty of melody, excellently distributed by the guitar duo Philip Borg and Peter Laitinen. The tracks were composed at considerable intervals from each other, and some bear the signature of a former Imperial Domain member: Anders Eklof, who demonstrates a genuinely good compositional ability, and it's unclear why the Imperials left him by the wayside (their website, which is sadly desolate and last updated months ago, states "due to personal issues"... sure, we really believe that).
The first track, Like Fire In The Night, is a perfect summary of the music offered by the Swedes. Powerful, melodic, with reflective breaks contrasted by vaguely thrash-flavored riffs, a singer Tobias v. Heideman who, beyond his physical appearance (a washed-out blond), really knows how to handle the growl, and a drummer (Alvaro Romero, a Swede for 20 generations) who, together with bassist Erik Wargloo, builds a truly massive and never predictable rhythm section.
The perfect production at the Sunlight Studios in Stockholm further enhances the first impression of these Imperial Domain. This impression is confirmed by the slow, almost doom-like cadence of From Time Immemorial, which also displays a great quality of the Imperials, namely their lyrics, which are very well crafted and often in rhyme. The best episodes are perhaps The Enchantress and But no One Hears, a great song enriched by a truly surprising finale where Imperial Domain "play" (very seriously, though...) at black metal with truly terrifying results. However, all the other tracks are also great songs, so... you absolutely must get this CD.
Tracklist
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