Stormbringer Ruler

Holy shit !!! Domine just droped an atomic bomb ! What an incredible album my friends !!! The Italian scene contains many acts, and although Italians are very talented in "crafting" Power Metal CDs, only a few make it out as major acts as far as I'm concerned. I already had Rhapsody and Secret Sphere to that very short list of incredible bands from Italy, but now I can blindly add Domine, and furthermore at the top of this list. This band is making so much progress from one album to the other than I don't even try to imagine their next album (it's sure gonna be a long wait !). If you like highly melodic and epic music with a lot of power, then you can blindly buy Stormbringer Ruler ! The best album this year guitar wise, no doubts about that, what incredible riffs and solos, my friends, I'm simply on my knees each and every time I listen to this atomic bomb. The music is so melodic, so epic, that I feel like fighting side by side with Elric the bearer of the black sword (Stormbringer) himself ! And that's another thing I love so much about Domine, their lyrics and the fact that their songs (most of them) are telling the story of one of my favorite hero (after Songokou and Luke Skywalker maybe ;) ). So if like me you're a huge fan of Michael Moorcock's chaotic albinos hero Elric, then you'll love this band even more. Let's now talk about the singer... I don't know if it's just me but I think the guy made tremendous progress, and is now delivering one of the best vocals I've listen to this year. What a singer ! His vocals are powerful, very epic in the way of the classical technique he is obviously using. As for the high pitched screams, they're simply unbelievable. On the first song (The Hurricane Master), he repeats the sentence "Justice is done" 6 or 7 times, each and every time getting higher and higher, sending shivers all the way down my spine every time ! The album contains many excellent orchestrations (keyboards) that adds a lot to the overall sound of Domine. Some songs are inspired from great classical music, like in the song The Ride Of The Valkyries which contains moments from Wagner's piece : Valkyries. Songs are all killing, even the last concluding tracks with are a wonderful ballad (For Evermore) and a mid tempo song called Dawn Of A New Day which closes the album perfectly. Although I love each and every song on this masterpiece, my two favorites are True Leader Of Men (oh my god !) and Hurricane Master. The production is a very good one, but let's face it, it could be better (it's not Rhapsody). I can only imagine how Domine would sound if they disposed of violins (or even a full orchestra) and a a huge production. I think they would simply blow everything away in the category ! The artcover follows the line of the last albums (same tones and style) and is beautiful, again, respecting the spirit of Emperor Elric of Melnibone. Well, the most addictive album this year without any doubts, and probably one of the best too ! You're into True / Power Metal ? Then you don't want to miss Domine's new album my friends. Buy or die !