A lot of Death Metal bands nowadays seem to be hovering on the fringes of mainstream acceptance. Ever since AMON AMARTH proved that you could both growl like a bear and sell out Brixton Academy, there's been a wealth of new acts who are incredibly heavy, but still make concessions for catchy choruses amongst the usual hail of bullets maelstrom. DOMAINS are not one of those bands.

Instead, these three Valencian head bangers make the kind of unholy racket that is designed to never escape the underground. They deal in a bludgeoning and remorseless brand of charnel house violence with titles like "Raped By Darkness" that leave no doubt about their intentions: they've got absolutely no interest in ever playing main stage at a festival or touring with DEVILDRIVER, they just want to send you to hell. Their website is covered in weird symbols and in the press release they refer to this album as a 'dark satanic beast' and a 'hateful piece of art.'

Which is all very well and good if you like metal to be as dark and uncompromising as possible, but it does make for a somewhat monochromatic record. First track "Domains" for example is one of those openers that pins your ears to the side of your head and could easily be the soundtrack to a Church burning rampage. "Mastery" is equally monstrous but with a touch of familiarity about it and by the time "Through Infernal Damnation" comes rumbling through the speakers, it's all becoming predictable.

Not that there aren't still plenty of eerie highpoints to scream fiendishly in the moonlight to however. "Labyrinth Of Incense" especially is excellent, a deeply atmospheric track that showcases some phenomenal musicianship and would be an instrumental if it weren't for the inhuman cries echoing through it. The closing title track meanwhile ends the album on a high point and has a malevolent intensity that'd make BEHEMOTH envious.

If there's one thing that makes DOMAINS stand out though it's the skill of the three players involved. There's more than a few decent guitar solos scattered throughout these ten tracks and the vocals stand out simply because they're more like ghastly invocations of evil than anything a sane human being would ever produce. "Sinister Ceremonies" isn't the best Death Metal album ever, but it's a long way from the worst and if you're in need of a new band to play while murdering your guitarist and calling it self-defence, this'll do just fine.