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# Global Domination

### Recent updates

- S(crap)s: I Miss My Death / Kaoskult / Raus & Perunwit (split) / Spatial / Thy Flesh (13/06/14)
- Hatebreed: The rise of brutality (12/06/14)
- Vomiting Corpses: Coma - The spheres of innocence (11/06/14)
- Mayhem: Esoteric warfare (10/06/14)
- S(crap)s: Akrotheism / Black Altar / Druknroll / Enthroned / Funeral Sutra (09/06/14)
- Agalloch: The serpent & the sphere (08/06/14)
- Dark Tranquillity: Construct (07/06/14)
- In Flames: The jester race (06/06/14)
- S(crap)s: Souldrainer / Tonic Breed / Rude / Defying / Electric Hellride / Scorned Disciple (05/06/14)
- Culted: Oblique to all paths (04/06/14)
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## Lists of Domination

### GD's Top 100 Most Dominating Albums From 2000-2009 (90-81)

#### 08/06/10 || Global Domination

90. The Ocean: Precambrian

“Precambrian” is one of those records that you either love at first listen or you detest to time end. Luckily for me –and for you-, I really enjoy The Ocean’s all-encompassing ambition, to create a record that covers the whole ground from spastic bursts of aggression to introverted pieces of post-Neurosis tension-and-release exercises in style and form. Boasting a legion of musicians and singers, “Precambrian” never loses focus or enters the realms of utter pretentiousness. Instead, it gradually evolves into a whole much bigger than its component parts, immersing the listener into a world of conflicting images and sounds. This German collective is one of the best things that has happened to metal during the last few years and “Precambrian” is prerequisite listen.

GD review.

-Khlysty

89. Ahab: The call of the wretched sea

Something grips you by the throat, slowly pulls you under water, and lets you experience the terrors of the deep first-hand. A choking emptiness. Paralysis. In a distance too far to reach, traces of ancient submarine life radiating through the darkness. A world impossible to conceive. The iron grip around your neck lets go far too late. Deep below, the lack of oxygen sends you to a soothing calm, floating amidst that which cannot be fathomed. Your senses fade.

Miraculously, you wake up washed upon a dim shore. How you survived? You don’t know. You don’t care. What does it matter? Slowly, but more and more determined, you wade back into the sea until your feet lose contact with the ground, only to sink into the bottomless abyss once more…

If you don’t like doom metal, check out “The call of the wretched sea”. I thought alike until I heard this album. This is full-on stuff, but with skilled songwriters behind it, and a fantastic production to boot. Don’t expect it to be accessible, but once it sucks you in, you will wade back, too.

Full coverage.

-Habakuk

88. Illdisposed: 1-800 Vindication

Pre-“Vindication”- Illdisposed was quite a dull band. Post-“Vindication”- Illdisposed is watered down and uninteresting. But the “Vindication”- Illdisposed really had something to offer. This album is shock-full of semi-death metal hits with boar-vocals leading its troops. Alot of bands do this; they are anonymous up until a certain album in their career, then all of a sudden they release a monster album and right after they go back to anonymity – never to walk their 15 Minutes Of Fame path again. “1-800 Vindication” is a great modern metal album with an ace production and songs that really work wonders for your daily headbanging. Holy shit, that was one cheesy sentence. Just like some of the stuff included here on this recording, but still it works great. Denmark never had much to offer when it comes to metal, but nonetheless I don’t see Illdisposed (or any other Danish band) beat the legacy Invocator created. This is a good try though.

Full coverage.

-Lord K Philipson

87. High On Fire: Death is this communion

High On Fire had been making some pretty decent stuff with their odd-duck mixture of doom/groove/sludge/stoner/whatever metal, but it wasn’t until their fourth album, 2007’s “Death is this communion”, that they created a record with highly compelling songwriting all-around; here, HoF cranked up the complexity, energy, and groove on their songwriting WAY up, and with thick, catchy riffs & great solos from guitar hero Matt Pike (as well as some surprisingly good acoustic work), the band’s best production job yet, and Des Kensel’s liveliest, most entertaining drum performance to date, this one’s definitely the winner out of the band’s body of work so far. Oh, and not to fear, old-school Fire fans, as Pike still stuck with the same ol’ bastard-son-of-Lemmy vocals here, so that should comfort you as you get used to the new and improved HoF; enjoy.

Additional coverage

-Smalley

86. Cobalt: Gin

From war metal, to tribal, ceremonial blackened thrash experience, Cobalt was never a band who feared taking chances. Shit, the whole idea behind the band –a soldier stationed wherever in the world there’s enough trouble to guarantee that you’re living in constant danger and a multi-instrumentalist who takes cues from anything that sounds intense enough or scary enough and turns everything into a maelstrom of slashing blackened guitars and teetering-on-the-edge drumming- is taking a chance. “Gin” came out in 2009 and pays tribute to two of the most celebrated intensely crazed guys in the world of letters, Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson. They both lived what they wrote about, they both drank gallons of alcohol, they both took their lives. “Gin” is a testament to nihilism and bravado. It’s an essential listen and you should have it.

GD review.

-Khlysty

85. Diablo Swing Orchestra: Sing along songs for the damned and deranged

Holy cow, only amongst a top 100 list does it really dawn on you how fucken long that title is. Anyway, DSO popped up a few years ago with “The Butcher’s Ballroom”, a decent album with a few really good tunes, but overall lacking in balance. They came back stronger than before with “Sing along songs…”, however. This was one wacky album; while there had been some combinations of circuses and metal before, it wasn’t until this release it became the central focus. “Sing along songs…” is as well-written as it is executed, though, and the myriad of vocal variations and bizarre melodies and sounds convey the circus image perfectly. It has an evil edge, though, and that suits the band perfectly fine.

When you listen closely, though, you do find the madness is not just tomfoolery, and the musical base behind all this is solid as armed concrete. The string work especially is fantastic, but all instruments and arrangements match perfectly and work together to one goal: make “Sing along songs…” a fucken great album, both in its vivid imagery as well as its musical technicality.

-GardensTale

84. Mustasch: Ratsafari

If you love heavy metal, I have a hard time understanding why you wouldn’t love Mustasch. They’ve got everything you need: the non-complex albeit catchy and heavy riffing, tasteful drums and bass. It’s pretty much an amalgamation of the 90s moments of heavy metal along with some of the classic 70s stuff these boys grew up on. This album is all of that along with an attitude that says these guys aren’t here to fuck around, they’re here to rock. And rock they do, nearly flawlessly the entire way. I say so.

-Trauma

83. Soulfly: Prophecy

“I see Max, leaving Sepultura to make a new band,
I see criticism raging out of hand,
For he doesn’t play the style of Sep no more,
Instead he follows trends, plays nu-metal like a whore
This is the Prophecy
This is the prophecy
But trends change and to a new sound Max moves,
The lineup changes and Max lays down heavy grooves,
Soulfly’s album is more straightforward, heavy and cool,
If you haven’t checked this one out, you’ve missed out fool,
This is the Prophecy
This is the Prophecy.”

In all seriousness, discard your preconceptions on Soulfly and forget Sepultura ever happened, and you will find this is actually a fucken good album.

Full coverage.

-revenant

82. Kill The Client: Cleptocracy

Everything’s bigger in Texas. Apparently even the number of awesome grind bands that rip your face off and wipe the stock exchange’s floor with it. One of them is Kill The Client. Similar to their like-minded fellows in Insect Warfare, these guys make no secret of their hatred towards today’s politics, social reality or the SYSTEM in general. Fittingly, they package their goods into short, unlikeable and indiscernible noisebits, topped off with a nasty, sawing production and way too much going on for the listener to “get it”.

Not even when they slow things down does one get a sense of relief, it rather feels like they shift from curtain fire to less projectiles with heavier calibers instead. This is sound meant to overpower the listener, and all the more is it fun to listen to. If you’ve had enough of music, get “Cleptocracy”. You will not be disappointed.

Full coverage.

-Habakuk

81. In Flames: Clayman

No, “Colony” wasn’t In Flames’ last good album, as 2000’s “Clayman” was also quite good, though their last such album to qualify as that (which is why it’s their only one on this list, of course). Anyway, while one can hear very mild hints of the more commercial (and shittier) approach the band would start taking on the subsequent releases, overall, “Clayman” still qualifies as a good, traditional In Flames record, with the expected well-structured, energetic, and dynamic songwriting, as well as plenty of melodic, catchy riffs/solos, and while Anders Fridén’s vocals are a bit too whiny overall (though definitely better than on the future albums), they’re still very tolerable when put next to all the other good shit here. Enjoy this one, ‘cause Flames will probably never be this good again.

Additional coverage.

-Smalley

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