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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 (30-21)

#### 29/06/10 || Global Domination

30. Cynic: Traced in air

Progressive death fusion masters return again after a fifteen year absence. These guys called it quits and went into all sorts of weird shit – Paul Masvidal worked in a hospital, Malone went on to teach music, and I don’t know what the others did, apart from a few musical projects. But the guys that made “Human” great have come back with a new record that is even weirder and more out there than the previous one, Focus. Where that one was already riddled with jazz/fusion weirdness mixed with death metal, this new one can barely even be called death metal apart from the growls – it’s like plugging the Mahavishnu orchestra into a metal band.

All their trademark stuff is still there, though – the wacky drumming, the weird flowing jazz melodies, and the robot “Paranoid android” vocals, but it’s been made into a flowing, uplifting whole without sounding actually happy. Quite the achievement for a band that has lain dormant (and many thought perished in the annals of time) for fifteen years.

Full review.

-Altmer

29. Neurosis: Given to the rising

In 2007, after being ripped off by, like, a jillion bands and being consigned into almost “has been” status, as a result of three introverted records, Neurosis returned with “Given To The Rising”, their ninth album in a twenty-plus-years career. And they returned with such a vengeance, that even the few detractors that had criticized their previous few efforts stood in awe in front of the elemental powers unleashed by the Frisco quintet. If you can imagine how it is to have a boot pressing your face in the mud for almost 71 minutes, then you might get an idea how “Given To The Rising” sounds like. By ingeniously combining the unbridled force of their earlier efforts with the nuance and heartbreaking detail that characterized their latter records and unleashing the whole with such ferocity that shames bands twenty years younger than the Neurosis clan, the band goes once again into uncharted territory of suffocating heaviness and naked sentiment. To call “Given To The Rising” a masterpiece is an understatement. This record just IS and the question is, can you handle it?

GD review.

-Khlysty

28. Panzerchrist: Room service

I don’t even know what happened after “Room service” in the Panzer camp. On this here album they created some wickedly catchy death metal with killer drumming on top of it all. Great production, insane groove and memorable songs altogether makes for a shit-heavy piece of plastic. Also, to have tunes where the actual song title is being growled as the music starts, for every track, is a nice touch. Cool idea, for sure. Just don’t repeat it.

Which they didn’t, as far as I know.

They pretty much didn’t repeat fucken shit from the recipe heard on “Room service”. On the follow-up these guys started to infuse black metal (on a larger scale too) into their death metal and all of a sudden nothing of the good old sound, as heard here, was left. Panzerchrist pretty much turned to crap compared to their “old” self over the course of one album, and they left the world wondering what the fuck they started smoking to let it happen. Shameful. “Room service” is still one of the better death metal albums in a long time though. Make no mistake about that. Now well just have to wait and see if they will ever redeem themselves.

-Lord K Philipson

27. Mastodon: Remission

From the intriguing cover art to the T-Rex roar to the first crushing riff, “Remission” is fine fucking debut album. Many would say that Mastodon has brought a fresh and distinctive sound to the present-day metal world. This album comprises thrashing energetic bits as well as some slower (but by no means boring) and more acoustic tracks. The production is deliciously raw, creating an overall fierce sound yet it is clean enough to showcase the deft and skillful work of each individual member. “Remission” is momentous album for the tech/prog metal genre of the ’00 era. This album is solid enough to stand on its own, but it is also announcing things to come for Mastodon…

-sly

26. Edge of Sanity: Crimson 2

A legendary metal musician who has been in more bands than there’s hookers in Poland. Who am I talking about? It could’ve been Hulk Hoglan, but no, it’s Dan the Goose! Swanners in your band is always good news though, because even when he decides “fuck it, I’ll do this one on my own, and fuck it, I’ll make it a sequel to one of my best works ever”, it STILL comes out a fucken masterpiece!

Everything that made “Crimson” so awesome returns in “Crimson 2”, but now with bonus evil. Swansong can still make one 43 minute death metal song coherent, engaging, and totally fucken awesome. His growls are deeper and less intelligible, but the perfect balance of throw-the-horns riffage, evil atmospherics, badass compositions and great lyrics make sure “Crimson 2” is as much a classic as “Crimson”.

-GardensTale

25. The Haunted: Made me do it

With two fifths of At the Gates (being the Björler brothers), The Haunted are the closest thing the champions of the Most Dominating Albums of the 90’s came to defending their title. Indeed, if anything could be considered a title defense, this album is it. Continuing the melo-swedeath/thrash crossover style of At the Gates, The Haunted serve up a feast of killer riffs and pounding beats from neck breaking start to finish. Anyone who listens to this album and doesn’t find their head nodding uncontrollably is not metal. This is classic headbanging material right here. (NB: I put the album on while I wrote this, it took me the whole album to finish this one paragraph because I kept stopping to listen, sing along, headbang, air guitar, jump around and just grin like an idiot. God this album rules).

Full coverage.

-revenant

24. Exodus: Tempo of the damned

On “Tempo of the Damned” the band’s heavier, more modern sound is perfectly mixed with Zetro’s classic vocals. You have fast thrashers like “War is my sheppard” and the pun-tastic “Sealed with a fist”, heavy as fuck tracks like “Shroud of urine” and “Culling the herd” and catchy, groovy tunes like “Blacklist” and “Throwin’ down”. It is amazing that at such a crazy point in the band’s career they made one of the best thrash albums ever…in the 2000’s, not the fucken 80’s!

It is a shame that Zetro exited staged left again soon after this came out because if they had kept on this course Exodus could have truly gotten back to headlining status. I do not hate the stuff with Rob Dukes after “Tempo of the Damned” but nothing they have done since has even come close to this. Great songs, excellent production, and good vocals…a rare but excellent triple combo for an Exodus record! I will leave you with these wonderful lyrics from “Culling the herd” that pretty much sum up how I feel about life these days…

The world’s a big cesspit
Of puke and piss and dogshit
But I ain’t gonna be its whore…

Couldn’t have said it better myself!

Full review.

-InquisitorGeneralis

23. Amon Amarth: Versus the world

Sweden’s stalwart Vikings make several appearances on this list… just like their ancestors made several murderous trips full of raping and pillaging to foreign shores. “Versus the World” is where it all came together for Amon Amarth: the memorable songs, the killer riffs, and the right amount of accessibility. The production on here is much improved from earlier records, as is the variety between songs. Personally, I think the albums between this and the killer debut “Once Sent From the Golden Hall” are good but lacking anything outstanding. “Versus the World” got Hegg and the boys back on the track to victory.

As far as the band’s output after this it is pretty enjoyable but lacks the punch and character of “Versus the World”. This is when Amon Amarth went from a fringe, cult band to a mainstream metal powerhouse and tracks like “Death in fire”, “Bloodshed”, and “A thousand years of oppression are what got them there. Hegg’s vocals are top-notch as usual, the guitars are on point and especially riff heavy, and the drumming is precise and groovy. This is the most complete Amon Amarth album to date methinks. Oh wait, incoming Oden brain-seizure…

The gods demand… BLOODSHED!!!

I need to go find a rune-inscribed tree and fuck it immediately. You keep reading and listening to these Swedish battle lords…and part-time truck drivers.

Full coverage.

-InquisitorGeneralis

22. Opeth: Ghost Reveries

Opeth’s hot streak came to an abrupt halt with “Watershed”. What the hell was up with that Nintendo interlude, dudes? But “Ghost reveries” is another jewel in the crown of Sweden’s Mellows of the Marsh. Aside from the usual heavy tunes with some soft stuff thrown in then back to the heavy formula, the band incorporated some wholly relaxed and downright lovely material as well. “Atonement” and “Hours of wealth” are haunting, and “Isolation years” must be one of the most hang-wringingly emotional songs I’ve ever heard. Not that BackhAirpelt and the gang forgot to bring the pain. Demonic and sinister, “The grand conjuration” stands out as a champ in their long discography. Sure there’s some odd choices shoehorned into the mix in the name of progression, but for the most part ‘Peth was focused as balls one 11-minute opus after the next. It just misses the mark of “Blackwater” greatness when Mikey sings, “they are the trees”. From whence comes this gay? Did I mistakenly pop a Rush album in?

So yeah, back to “Ghost reveries”. Great songs, very cool built-for-surround-sound production, and bursting with ideas. I think the mix of light and dark was pretty ace here, and they’ve hopefully been chastised by the backlash from “Watershed” enough to venture back into this territory. More Deep Purple covers, less Super Mario Brothers please.

Additional coverage.

-Daemonomania

21. Agalloch: Ashes against the grain

Agalloch continued their flawless streak of releases with 2006’s “Ashes against the grain”, de-emphasizing the acoustic folksy-ness of “The mantle” in favor of a more energetic, focused, more straightforwardly metal (but in a good way!) style, with the emphasis being placed back on the electric riffing, with the acoustic guitars filling more of a sidekick role.

But, despite the continued changes, Agalloch put in the same creative, emotionally-potent songwriting here as they’ve done for all their other albums; the steady build-up that culminates in the shatteringly-dramatic transition from electric guitar to lonely acoustic notes (and then right back again) on “Limbs”… the beautiful, endless energy of “Falling snow”… the serene, tortured majesty of “Fire above, ice below”… there’s just so much great stuff on this record, that there’s absolutely no way I can cover it all in this little write-up (damn you for beating me to the review-punch, Hanging Limbs!).

Anyway, considering that if it wasn’t for “Lateralus”, “Ashes” would be my favorite album of the ’00’s, I’m very, very happy to see it crack our top 25; always nice to see there are fellow metalheads of good taste on the staff. Now, hurry up with that fourth album guys!

Additional coverage.

-Smalley

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