AUTHORIZE — The Source of Dominion (review)

AUTHORIZE — The Source of Dominion album cover Album · 1991 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"The Source of Dominion" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Authorize. The album was released through Putrefaction Records in 1991. Authorize formed in 1988 under the Morbid Fear monicker and released the "Darkest Age" demo in April 1990 before changing their name to Authorize. There´s been one lineup change since the name change and since the release of the "Darkest Age" demo, as the band have added lead vocalist Thomas Ek to the lineup, making Authorize a quintet.

That´s not the only change which has happened though. Because while "Darkest Age" featured a furiously fast-paced thrash metal style, it had little to do with death metal, and the band obviously took a conscious decision to start playing death metal and therefore added Ek to the lineup, as guitarist Larsa Johansson, who had previously handled the lead vocal duties, probably didn´t feel up to the taks of delivering the deep growling vocals their new music required.

Stylistically the material on "The Source of Dominion" is old school death metal to the bone, but it´s more US influenced than many of their contemporary countrymen. Suffocation is a valid reference, although Authorize are generally a bit less inhuman, and their music is sligthly more varied, for instance featuring eerie atmospheric parts enhanced by keyboards, and some morbid melodic leads. Authorize are a very well playing act, which isn´t surprising if you´re familiar with the "Darkest Age" demo, but the point is there is some pretty technical playing on display, without the material being technical death metal.

The sound production is unfortunately a bit on the thin side, lacking a more intense brutal guitar tone. The drums and bass sound terrific though, and the vocals sound pretty great too (brutal and placed high in the mix, as they should be on a release in this style). So a little more punch on the guitars would have made this a more complete listening experience.

Upon conclusion "The Source of Dominion" is a good quality Swedish death metal album from the golden year of 1991. As described above it´s a little out of number, because it doesn´t sound very "Swedish", which is a bit unusual for a 1991 Swedish death metal release, but personally that´s what I find interesting about it. It may not be the forgotten gem that some people make it out to be, but it´s certainly a good listening experience, and definitely worth your time if you can imagine a less technical and slower sounding Suffocation. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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