Review by Felix on August 24, 2019.

It's always nice to see a band growing up - naturally only as long as it sticks to its guns. Power from Hell is one of these formations. Once a one-man-project, now a real group; this alone is a positive aspect. It gives the unit a more organic appearance, even though band founder Sodomic is still the only songwriter. But let's see what the next album will bring. Either way, Power from Hell sound less childish than on their early albums. Their last six track release already indicated the new direction and the fact that they have abandoned their bondage artworks is slightly sad for sadomasochists, but it also points in the right direction.

What can we expect from the "new" Power from Hell? They still stand firmly with both feet on the ground of the blackened thrash territory. Nevertheless, the songs are somehow smoother than before, they flow excellently and add a new facet to the image of the Brazilians. Norwegian black thrashers usually focus on nastiness, German bands of this sub-genre love to score with stubbornness. Power from Hell romp around this stylistic playground with a certain elegance. They are not the nice boys in a dark surrounding, but their wickedness appears more subtly. It glimmers through the non-complex songs and is a child of both, the compositions and the production. Profound Evil Presence sounds slightly dull and rumbling yet vigorous at the same time. Maybe the band and the producer should have given some more room for the guitars. They shine in full bloom during the solos, but they have to struggle during the remaining song parts, in particular whenever the horde accelerates the pace.

The resonating vocals of Sodomic are constantly deep and diabolic. He avoids any kind of experiments, but a lack of variety is immanent to the sub-genre. What really counts are things like attitude, coherence of the songs and quality of the riffs. Power from Hell know these crucial factors very well. Especially in terms of attitude, the dudes cannot be blamed for any kind of defectiveness. Evil lives in all of their compositions and it is rather dubious that there exist less difficult tasks than distinguishing the single tracks of this album from each other. However, this means simultaneously that if you like one song, you will like them all.

As far as I can see, Sodomic has also changed his lyrical approach. Infantile rape fantasies do not occur anymore, and this takes a big load of my mind. Power from Hell's music never needed this idiocy. Of course, the lyrics still deal with "dark" topics such as vampirism, witches or devilish concubines and "to fornicate" seems to be Sodomic's most favourite verb. In this context, it is almost only logical that even good old Countess Bathory arises from her coffin once again. Cronos, my old friend, on a serious note: why did you exhume this old Hungarian hag on "Black Metal"? Now she will haunt us until our last days. However, the lyrics cannot be described as highly original - but Profound Evil Presence has other qualities. Its sinister aura expresses the spirit of a band that emphasizes its black metal elements without cutting off the link to thrash metal. Fans of "Bathory" or "The Return..." will appreciate this album, albeit Quorthon's early outputs have no obvious influence here. Finally, the uniformity of the compositions makes it difficult to speak of true highlights. However, some songs are slightly more effective than the rest and therefore one should lend an ear to "When Night Falls", "Into the Sabbath", "Demons of the Night" or especially the unholy "Lust... Sacrifice & Blood".

Rating: 7.8 out of 10

Review by Tomek on August 25, 2013.

Once I read info sheet on The New Dominion, I said to myself: that one is going to kick ass!! With album produced/mixed and drums played by Yuma van Eekelen (Exivious, ex-Pestilence), recording done by Bart Hennephof (Textures), mastering by Jens Bogren with guest appearances by Robin Zielhorst on fretless bass (ex Cynic, Exivious) and Niels Adams on vocals (Centurian, Prostitute Disfugerment) how can it not?

Band started in 2006 in Holland and debuted year later with a demo “... And Black Gleams The Eye”, their first official release “... And Kindling Deadly Slumber” came out in 2009 and what we have here is their latest effort “Procreating The Undivine”. Not to go into categorizing much, I have to say that Death Metal with lots of Groove and some Technical twists and very modern sound is a good start to identifying it. That is a very dry info but music on this disc is not.

Production on this album is top notch making all sounds absolutely accessible which in turn makes all brutality and carnage scalpel-sharp. I am used to it if it comes to Progressive Metal, but to achieve something like that with Death Metal is close to genius. Digital perfection and cleanliness but yet full of atmosphere and intense old style feeling, full of chunky grooves, thrashy breakdowns, tech vortexes and all that skillfully positioned in intense, unconventional Death Metal of brutal yet melodic kind.

Yuma’s drumming is well balanced and very intense making me think that he must be part octopus or something. How is he doing what he’s doing here with pair of hands and two legs is beyond me. Drumming is a definite highlight of the album for me but rest of the team doesn’t fall behind at all. Fat sounding rumble of the bass guitar shook my living room, and the violently chugging rhythm section almost gave me heart arrhythmia with its dynamic and brilliantly diverse pounding. That is something that’s for me is missing from a lot of new releases but it is very constant on this one. It is powerful, selective, groovy and brutal at the same time. Once you add precise, technical and yet juicy sounding guitars and top it off with deep growls/grunts alternating with maniacal screams sonic devastation must follow. Lyrics cover the never-ending acts of violence conceived by mankind and each song on the record is written from a perspective of different individual. Pretty cool idea that completes the music and makes reading lyric sheet very interesting. Lots of room for interpretation but that’s how I like it anyway. It is complemented by cover art done by Niklas Sundin of Dark Tranquillity. His work illustrates the whole thing with disturbing conviction.

Ten songs on the album give us almost an hour of excellence. Even though I have couple things that bother me a little, I have to say that I will come back to “Procreating The Undivine” in the near future and I can recommend this one to pretty much anyone that craves for some Groove Tech Death. I wish The New Dominion all the best because songs like ‘Perverted To Perfection’ or ‘Atonement’ made me grin with pleasure. Somehow I think that that’s what they’ve been shooting for. The CD booklet states “Insanity knows no boundaries” – true that.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 10
Originality: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 9 out of 10

Review by Tomek on August 25, 2013.

Once I read info sheet on The New Dominion, I said to myself: that one is going to kick ass!! With album produced/mixed and drums played by Yuma van Eekelen (Exivious, ex-Pestilence), recording done by Bart Hennephof (Textures), mastering by Jens Bogren with guest appearances by Robin Zielhorst on fretless bass (ex Cynic, Exivious) and Niels Adams on vocals (Centurian, Prostitute Disfugerment) how can it not?

Band started in 2006 in Holland and debuted year later with a demo “... And Black Gleams The Eye”, their first official release “... And Kindling Deadly Slumber” came out in 2009 and what we have here is their latest effort “Procreating The Undivine”. Not to go into categorizing much, I have to say that Death Metal with lots of Groove and some Technical twists and very modern sound is a good start to identifying it. That is a very dry info but music on this disc is not.

Production on this album is top notch making all sounds absolutely accessible which in turn makes all brutality and carnage scalpel-sharp. I am used to it if it comes to Progressive Metal, but to achieve something like that with Death Metal is close to genius. Digital perfection and cleanliness but yet full of atmosphere and intense old style feeling, full of chunky grooves, thrashy breakdowns, tech vortexes and all that skillfully positioned in intense, unconventional Death Metal of brutal yet melodic kind.

Yuma’s drumming is well balanced and very intense making me think that he must be part octopus or something. How is he doing what he’s doing here with pair of hands and two legs is beyond me. Drumming is a definite highlight of the album for me but rest of the team doesn’t fall behind at all. Fat sounding rumble of the bass guitar shook my living room, and the violently chugging rhythm section almost gave me heart arrhythmia with its dynamic and brilliantly diverse pounding. That is something that’s for me is missing from a lot of new releases but it is very constant on this one. It is powerful, selective, groovy and brutal at the same time. Once you add precise, technical and yet juicy sounding guitars and top it off with deep growls/grunts alternating with maniacal screams sonic devastation must follow. Lyrics cover the never-ending acts of violence conceived by mankind and each song on the record is written from a perspective of different individual. Pretty cool idea that completes the music and makes reading lyric sheet very interesting. Lots of room for interpretation but that’s how I like it anyway. It is complemented by cover art done by Niklas Sundin of Dark Tranquillity. His work illustrates the whole thing with disturbing conviction.

Ten songs on the album give us almost an hour of excellence. Even though I have couple things that bother me a little, I have to say that I will come back to “Procreating The Undivine” in the near future and I can recommend this one to pretty much anyone that craves for some Groove Tech Death. I wish The New Dominion all the best because songs like ‘Perverted To Perfection’ or ‘Atonement’ made me grin with pleasure. Somehow I think that that’s what they’ve been shooting for. The CD booklet states “Insanity knows no boundaries” – true that.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 10
Originality: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 9 out of 10