ALBUM REVIEW
DOMINION – Mortification of Thy Flesh
Rotten riffs serve up death metal decadence.
A delicious 30-minute dose of old-school death metal (27 minutes if you leave out the intro and outro)! Once again, I’m absolutely delighted with my spot-on album pick. As mentioned in the band’s bio, DOMINION have been through their fair share of hardships, but they’ve come out of it in pretty solid shape. Hailing from New Hampshire, the band was formed in 2019 by Uncle Sadism (vocals, guitar) and Ogre (bass). When drummer Flagellator joined the ranks in 2022, the guys began working on their debut EP, Evil Control, later bringing in a second bassist, Noctis. By the time they reached their first full-length, Claytanas, a name from the New England death metal scene, had taken over behind the kit. Despite these lineup changes, the band’s commitment to old-school death metal has never wavered.
These guys sound like they’ve been plucked straight out of the Tampa scene of the ’90s and dropped into the present day. Every track makes their admiration for Deicide and Cannibal Corpse abundantly clear. Unlike many modern OSDM bands that come across as sluggish or artificial, DOMINION do an excellent job of capturing the tone, production, and songwriting approach of classic Florida death metal. Built around seven main tracks bookended by an intro and outro, the album delivers raw, mid-paced heaviness, rotten riffs, and deep, guttural vocals without any unnecessary frills. Recorded in November 2025 at Witch House Studios in Groton, Massachusetts, Mortification of Thy Flesh is the kind of record that will appeal to seasoned metal veterans who grew up on the extreme metal classics of the early ’90s and have been around the block a few times.
When I think about the old-school output of some bands I’ve listened to lately but haven’t reviewed, I get the feeling that this stuff is being churned out purely for consumption, on a copy-and-paste basis and just for the sake of it. I’ve come across so many carbon-copy bands these days that my hand would instinctively reach for old friends, for the albums by the very people who created this music and shaped its direction. But listening to DOMINION completely dispelled those thoughts. This album fucking reeks of death, and I absolutely love it, plain and simple! :)
At first, I was a little put off by the visuals in the album’s promotional material, but the guys showed me just how misleading prejudice can be. Looking at the band’s origins and musical stance, it’s clear that they emerged in reaction to the modern death metal mindset. For DOMINION, it’s not just about copying the sound of older bands; it’s about recapturing that era’s diseased, raw, and unsettling atmosphere. Here we have a band that upholds the Florida legacy and delivers the goods, both vocally and on the guitar front.
DOMINION have stayed true to their heritage, embraced the old-school aesthetic, and honed their sound to deliver a debut full-length that tears things up with Mortification of Thy Flesh. Short and to the point, much like the bands that inspired it, this album more than satisfied my craving for old-school death metal with its filthy grooves, rotten riffs, and harsh, guttural vocals. The verdict? Thirty minutes of a delicious death metal feast that absolutely stinks to high heaven!
