Dominant – The Summoning – EP Review

Featuring members of Hideous Deformity, Necrotic Disgorgement, Conjuration and Dauden, The Summoning is Dominant‘s short, savage debut EP and as introductions go…..these Norwegian brutalists have hit the mother-load!

Channeling the very best of 90’s death metal, The Summoning drips with malevolence and a healthy dose of ball-crushing heaviness. Most importantly, this beast’s technical tendencies are balanced out with an all important accessibility! This shit is as catchy as fuck and recalls the hell-raising hooks of Deicide’s debut while modernising its sound for today’s tech-obsessed death metal hordes.

Featuring Glen Benton-esque layered vocals, The Summoning is basically the album you wish Deicide would make again and the likes of “Servants Of Damnation” come straight from the Once Upon The Cross rulebook. Apocalyptic and anvil-heavy it’s the barrel-chested grooves found on “Vultures Of The Void” that hit the hardest, delivering a knock-out blow with relative ease and reminding you why this kind of death metal remains so resolutely addictive.

Endless Deicide comparisons aside, Dominant are a commanding presence in their own right and The Summoning is a devastating debut from a band with a very, very bright future! 8/10