With a band name like DOMINATION, and the artwork that came along with it, I did expect something phenomenal in store for me, although considering some not so great Thrash albums that I have come across in recent past, I didn't really have much too high expectations of this album. But the Greek Thrashers do surprise you with their debut full-length album here named "Infants Of Thrash", which was nearly a year ago, in last August. Ok, I admit it, the cheesy name did tempt me to pick up this album for the review.

The album starts with an atmospheric tempo building instrumental in "Born in War..." with bullets shots fired in the background, you know you are in for some epic shit here as the sharp riffs pierce through your ears. The same riff and tempo continues into "Great Society Shutdown", which gives a great exhibition of what the band is capable of - which is unadulterated quality Thrash Metal. Seriously, it's been very long since I really listened to a good angry Thrash band, and lot of the blame for that has to go to me, because I didn't seek enough new music in last year, but this sound - just simply blew my mind. DOMINATION is full of neck breaking riffs, and the drums and bass just sound impeccable. The vocals of Theo Papadopulos is one of the highlights of the band's sound and the album, as his screams and typical Thrashy vocals of thick guttural sound, make such a big difference to the band's sound. Without that vocals, probably DOMINATION, even with all the great riffs, might have ended up sounding like any other Thrash band around. That differentiation gives such beauty and can be felt in songs like "Zero Hour", which is full of fast paced moshing and hair lifting riffs. One of the things that I realized here is that Theo does just vocals in the band, and that allows him to go full Monty in what he does. Often I have felt that such energy and unique vocals is not possible by a vocalist who is also a guitarist or a bassist, although some may argue that SODOM's Tom Angelripper and some other Thrash vocalist-guitarists do achieve that. But you will realize when you listen to this album, why I say that most Thrash vocalists who are just vocalists are able to bring in much more uniqueness, diversity and energy into the songs that a vocalist who is also a guitarist.

Ok, now that I am done with that, let me move on to the next song, "Killing Joke", which has some cheesy lyrics filled with chaotic riffs all the way, but still manages to be impressive. On second time listening I realized that although the song is chaotic, it does have a proper main riff to it as well, which does get lost often in the chaos. "You Will Know My Name" has SODOM and lots of punk influence written all over it, due to its anthemic punk headbanging nature of the song. Theo pushes himself in "Demonstration Of Democracy" as he screams for an extended longer period of time thus creating an added energy and angry vibe into the song. Interestingly, the song shifts tempo in the latter half and the band plays some mid-tempo Thrash riffs, reminding me a bit of ARTILLARY. Although I expected the song to come back with high pitch full tempo sound, the song dies down into oblivion from there on, giving me mixed feeling about it. "Seal Of Justice" is another chaotic song, but unlike "Killing Joke", fails to impress me as the riffs and everything else is felt wrongly placed, and just doesn't offer anything new to the listener. The band attempts to pull off an epic anthemic song in "Needle's End", as the album's longest song clocking 6:47 starts with lots of slow guitar melodies, before sharp riffs take over and it turns into a fast paced mad mayhem. Although the song has very generic riffs in the 1^st half, the latter half has some unique riffs and this is one of those songs that shall grow on you as you listen to it multiple times and you will enjoy it by being more patient. And in such a great Thrash album, how can you not have a song with the word 'Thrash' in it? So we got "Thrash-Pit", and again, the song starts in a less impressive manner, but the latter half just simply blew my mind. The song has some very good solos, and great vocals and drum work overall. "Loss Of Sanity" has some of the best vocals on the album as the vocals are more audible and the lyrics get more meaningful and comprehensible, even as the hair lifting riffs continue all throughout the song. The loud bass is used very intelligently here and I wonder why other band's don't make the presence of the bass felt as much as other instruments just like in this song. The title track "Infants Of Thrash" is another chaotic and energetic song, and band attempts to make an anthem out of it by having backing vocals all throughout the song, but the song just falls short of that due to the excess chaotic nature of the song. The last song of the album "Epilogue Of Conquest" is a slow instrumental with soothing guitar riffs all throughout the 3 minutes of the song.

While "Infants Of Thrash" is not genre revolutionary album, but it definitely is one of the best debut full-length albums that I have come across from a Thrash band in recent years. Other than the occasional repetitiveness feeling of the riffs, pretty much all of the album is excellent and is sure to please all seasoned Thrashers.

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