The biggest secret of Dominion

Please give us a short introduction of yourself?
Well, we are a thrash-metal band from The Netherlands and play thrash metal as it is meant to be; hard, fast and aggressive. We started in the summer of 2002, from the ashes of the black metal band In Ruins, and got to getter in the current formation in the summer of 2003. We were all very motivated to play in this band and especially the thrash metal genre what we haven’t played in our former bands. Because of this motivation we were able to go into the Steelworks studio with producer Fred Mantel to record our debut album in January 2004 and release it (without a label) in the summer of 2004 (Yes, a lot of things happen in the summer!). We’ve had very good reviews from Rock Tribune (83/100), lords of metal (75/100), Aardschok (64/100) and Zware metalen. After the release of our debut album we started doing a lot of gigs and now we have gigs in Spain, Germany and Luxembourg to look forward to.

First of all....what’s your Dominion?
Metal all over the world. We have learned from experience that it doesn’t really matter what kind of metal it is that you make, but how you present it and how you make it work.
We have played with several other bands from different genres and it didn’t matter if they played death metal or black metal the audience still went crazy when they heard us play.

How glad are you to be a metal band?
Very glad. I cannot imagine how dull it is to play Brian Adams or dance like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera all the time. Although they have very nice asses!!
But seriously, metal releases the tension within us and sets us free more or less. We can put all the energy and emotions that we have in the music and I think you can hear that when you listen to the music.

Is there something that you won’t do to be on stage with big names?
Perform with Bon Jovi or visit Micheal Jackson at Neverland! That is against our principles! Further much there is a lot of things we do and would do to come into the attention of metal fans. Today marketing is more important then making good music how absurd that is of course. Therefore we have launched a marketing offensive and try to play in as much places as possible.

If there is an afterlife....what would/should it look like?
We don’t believe there is an afterlife so I don’t know what it supposed to look like. But if there really is an afterlife it should be a true Elysium. It would be paradise for al beings that are there and not just for humans but for animals also. Animals are true to their instinct and are not as destructive as the human virus that we are. Therefore I think they to deserve a place in the afterlife.

Why the name Dominion?
Our former bass player came up with the name. It represents our wish to dominate in the metal scene. Metal is a band apart. All the people who are in it have certain ideas about the world which are different from the ideas of the majority. Why try to reflect those ideas in our music and lyrics and hope to create our own Dominion. The principle of a Dominion can be found in the logo as well. The name is closed in an oval border whereby the inside the Dominion represents.

What is your biggest secret?
Simplicity and we steal riffs from rap and hip hop acts like 50 cent!. Although we admire a band such as Dream Theater or an artist like Ingwie Malmsteen because of their technique, simplicity is in our opinion the key. We try not to overrun our songs with 30 different riffs and a million solo’s, but to create a couple a riffs that are catchy and put them in a recognisable whole. Therefore you can enjoy our songs by hearing them for the first time instead of listening to them for a couple of times before the songs sound good to your hearing.
You might think that therefore the songs become boring very fast, but that is not true in our case. The songs all have a certain intensity which grabs and holds you for the entire song.

What do you think about us?
You guys are very important to bands like us without a label who are trying to make it in this scene. And therefore we are glad that you wanted an interview with us. As I said before marketing is the key these days, not just the music and you give that opportunity.
Our gig in Spain (www.metalwaysfest.com) on the 2nd of July has the same principle. It is organized by people who want to support bands without a label and have therefore organized this festival. It’s goal is to introduce the bands to each other and to get contacts abroad with other bands and people. Without people like you and them bands like us wouldn’t get our name promoted and eventually not last for a long time.

If you could be a demon....which would you be?
Probably a Balrog. It single handy represents the hate and especially energy what we have and try to put in our music. It is almost indestructible and comes from a Dominion far below the earth and expands that Dominion with every step it takes on or below the surface.

Tell us something about the bands future.
We are currently working on new material for our next album that has the working title ‘Psychotic’. We have taken all the criticisms very seriously and hopefully have taken al lot of them away. You can already hear that in a lot of our new songs. We will begin to contact record labels soon for a distribution deal for our debut album and hopefully after that an record deal for our new album. Our goal is to go into the studio somewhere in 2006, but that depends on how things are going then. Furthermore we hope to be part of this years Occult fest and to perform as a support act for a bigger band. But the year is still young so there will be a lot of gigs and opportunities in our way!

Last Rites?
Stay metal, Stay who you are and don’t get fucked from behind!!!!