Domain – “Last Days of Utopia”
I could listen to this album for weeks and weeks on end and still enjoy it. This traditional metal band is about melody and mood. Where many heavy/power metal bands choose to play fast for most of the album, this bunch concentrates on the midpaced rhythms, lots of hooks and melodic vocals. To these ears, the vocals sound similar in feel to Edguy, as well as older singers, like Joe Lynn Turner and Glenn Hughes. This band has more in common with 1980s Black Sabbath and 1980s Rainbow than with power metal. Obviously, there is a power metal element going on here, but the speed is not that important here. The first few times I heard this I thought it sounded boring and oldschool. Well, it’s traditional, but after a few listens, I got it and I think that this is good, catchy stuff. They have ballads and “The Great Rebellion” has a main riff very similar to Saxon’s “Unleash the Beast”. It doesn’t really matter. They are not claiming to be original. They are good, though.