Ah yes, Usurper… Before I received this promo of their fourth album, I only knew their second album Skeletal Season, which was, in my humble opinion, a total disaster. Bad sound, no recognizable or songs worth mentioning, messy playing. Just some of the things that made me forget about that record. After receiving this disc, I thought that it could do no harm to listen to their second album again before reviewing the new album. I was again confronted with this horrible record, and I really didn’t feel like writing something positive…

How wrong I was when I played Twilight Dominion! Talking about progression, my god! This is a really tight and enjoyable record, containing metal, metal, some more metal and pure metal alone!! The sound and production are excellent, tight drums, powerful guitars and fierce vocals make this album a pure listening pleasure. Usurper’s music consists of metal (as stated before), however think of 80’s thrash/heavy metal. Influences from Celtic Frost and Venom, but also Bolt Thrower comes to mind during the more mid-tempo songs.

One could also call this “poser-metal”, because of the high level of hailing metal. And by that I mean lots of spikes, leather, bullets, completely cliché poses and song titles like “Metal Lust” and “I Am Usurper”. Actually, you could see them as an extreme alternative for Manowar. It can’t be a coincidence they toured together…

Now, don’t take that comparison as a bad thing, since Usurper is (extreme) metal to the bone. I sure as hell like it, but don’t expect anything original. It seems like this record is written in 1983 but recorded in 2003, and I mean that in a very positive way! There are plenty of blastbeats and more mid-tempo paced double-bass parts to keep this record (which almost lasts an hour) interesting. So my suggestion is the following: put your spikes on and your leather jacket, grab a beer, bang your head and enjoy Usurper!!