Aeturnus Dominion - Psychotic

The Australian band Aeturnus Dominion claims to have created a new genre of music called ‘Brutal Aussie Bastard Metal.’ I disagree that music should be so categorized by the creators because I think that when marketing (which is exactly the only thing labeling as such is good for) is placed before music and playing itself, a sort of musical death arrives on the scene. But in some ways, that is neither here nor there, the thing that is actually important is the music on the CD. It is part death metal, part King Crimson high-pitched yelling, and part weird-ass Alice Cooper rock (no, that is not 3 halves, just 3 parts and there are surely still others). I suppose that is why the band labels themselves as such, they have no known musical genre father. So be it.

Yet, let’s think for a moment. I do appreciate genre-less metal (new metal or whatever it is called), but I also might suggest that sometimes genre-less-ness is adhered to because the band members lack dedication or musical rigor. That is not the case here. The album is brutal. I feel the killing-desire. I also feel the talent in the musicians. The genre switch from track “Feed the War Machine” to the title track “Psychotic” is just supreme. The end of “Feed…” tramps along with the murder-sound of Cattle Decapitation and then leaps into “Psychotic” along the lines of Mike Patton screaming (sort of) and then bounds again into “Impure Tendencies” with the melancholy of a very depressed Neil Young that morphs back death growls mixed with higher pitched wails. The result is a CD that will not bore at all, needs several listens in a row, and could easily become a go-to record for that I-don’t-quite-know-what-I-want-to-listen-to mood.

1. Locked In Ice
2. Feed The War Machine
3. Psychotic
4. Impure Tendencies
5. Final Exit
6. Traumatic Amputation
7. Emerald Eyes
8. Tomorrow Never Comes
9. Still Heart
Grindhead Records
Reviewer: twansibon
Feb 26, 2009
Next review: Aeternus - Hexaeon

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