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Band Name: Usurper
Album Name: Twilight Dominion
Rating: 3 / 5 User Rating: 4 / 5
Label: Earache Records
Buy Album: Amazon.com
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Tracklist
1) Metal Lust
2) Struggle of Tyrants
3) She Devil
4) Godless and Lycanthropic
5) I am Usurper
6) Golem
7) The Descent
8) Utopian Nightmare
9) Invincible Overlords
10) Vatican Time Machine
11) The Oath of Silence
12) Perpetual Twilight
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Usurper have remained an underground mainstay for years, controlling the metal legions from below with an iron fist. Their punishing brand of chugging metal is reminiscent of the metal boom of the 80's, barking verses with determined arrogance, learning from old school Metallica & Slayer. After this long reign as one of the most dominant independent metal bands, they have arrived at Earache's doorstep with Twilight Dominion, an album that is poised to convert millions of metalheads to their glimpse into the past. Does it hold it's own with today's more revolutionary metal hybrids, or does it suffer from it's ancient tone? That all depends on where your metal devotion lies, but for the most part Usurper spend too much time reliving the past and not enough time capitalizing on the present.
"Metal Lust" opens the album with a matter-of-fact blast of metallic fury, yet though it provides an overwhelming crush it has a flair for old-school tendencies and it's hard to honestly tell this is a 2003 release. The rhythmic pulse and General Diabolical Slaugter's (yes that's his name) fist-pumping chants that accompany the song are all entertaining enough, and at select points Usurper mimic Metallica's "Battery". Jon Necromancer's bass crunch on "She-Devil" sounds abysmal and border-line annoying, creating a steady buzz in the air that is the sound of a thousand mosquitoes swarming around your head at once. Vocally this is mediocre at best, as bearing with the 80's philosophy it's not about being able to sing, it's in how boisterous your screams are at any given moment. This album also suffers tremendously from agonizing song lengths, and Twilight Dominion could easily have been an enjoyable nostalgic ride had they not insisted on continuous 5+ minute songs. By the time one ends the band have given all that they have, meaning that the ensuing track is just regurgitated metal that you've already heard, and they drag on forever with little true direction.
There is a time and place for everything, and Usurper would have been exceptional had this been the 80's. Unfortunately it is not, and Twilight Dominion comes off feeling dated and ridiculously silly, thematic horror metal that is much like a cheesy slasher flick. While these men are solid musicians and truly love their brand of metallic rage, one can't help but laugh at this album since it takes itself so seriously. Usurper pride themselves in reveling in the leather and spikes of the classic metal bands of the 80's, and their devotion to that time period cannot be discredited, it's just a shame they're 20 years too late to capitalize on their talent. Instead they are trapped in the 21st century, trying vainly to relive their perception of metal's glory days, and while this is entertaining to a point, it makes for an album that only the most die-hard metalheads will palaver over. To everyone else, these men sound old and out of touch at where metal has evolved in the past decade and a half.
Review by: jferret
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