There's a comforting familiarity in Atlanta-based brutal death metal band CEMETERY FILTH's sound on its debut full-length album "Dominion". Formed in 2014, the quartet combines classic, old school European death metal influences (mostly Swedish/Scandinavian) together with US death metal (mostly Floridian) in the vein of MORBID ANGEL and OBITUARY into the band's own interpretation of the genre.

After releasing an EP in 2014, the band's trajectory slowed down a bit after that, contributing to the first "4 Doors To Death" volume in 2016, followed by a split EP with SEWERCIDE in 2017 and a split with Church of Disgust the following year. Thankfully, CEMETERY FILTH is back stronger than ever. The brutal foursome have steadily progressed with its songwriting and musicianship with each subsequent release, becoming an unstoppable force to be reckoned with on Dominion.

From the get-go, opener "Subduction" possesses blasting drums, filthy, blower-horn bass tones and buzzsaw riffs, decorated with putrid, indecipherable growled vocals. Mid-paced OSDM chugging on tracks such as "Exhumed Visions" and "Devoured by Dread" help define the band's sound, while they also throw in a bit of Grindcore influences here and there into the mix as well. Although the band knows how to inject aggression and speed into some of the tracks from time to time ("Festering Vacuity" and the mosh-worthy "Churning of the Shadows"), the slow-grinding OBITUARY-esq dirges such as the powerful "Aeons in Dis" and the climactic title track is where the band truly shine.

The musicianship throughout the 38-minute run time is technically proficient without being too technical. The busy rhythm section — consisting of drummer Chris McDonald and bassist Devin Kelley — perform like a human battering ram, while guitarist Ryan Guinn achieves some of the tastiest solos the genre has to offer. The well-placed tempo changes and musical dynamics — as well as the amount of infectious grooves injected into each riff — are also massive talking points. Although guitarist/vocalist Matt Kilpatrick delivers some brutal vocals, they unfortunately aren't distributed as well as the rest of the instruments, sounding further away in the overall mix.

Although CEMETERY FILTH isn't technically doing anything different within the brutal death metal realm, they do inject a youthful, energetic style into the genre with head-banging results. If you're in the mood for some killer death metal performed in the old-school way, then "Dominion" will definitely scratch your itch.