Morifade - Domination
Karmageddon Media
Power Metal
10 songs ()
Release year: 2004
Karmageddon Media
Reviewed by Crims

Morifade is a relatively new Power Metal band out of Sweden with quite a few releases under their belt in a short period of time. Domination is the band’s third full-length and the style found on this release is somewhat typical Power Metal full of melody, keyboards, high-pitched vocals, and surprisingly heavy riffing at times. In a way, the band sounds a lot like Freternia and to a certain extent a less epic Edguy. Have we heard this before? You bet, however, big fans of the style will find a lot to like here.

Domination suffers from the all-too-common epidemic present in Power Metal and Death Metal lately, and that’s a CD from a band that has very good song writing skills, a reasonable amount of talent, but a band that sounds a whole lot like other stuff out there. So who will this appeal to? It’s hard to say. I’m personally one of those people that if the music is well played, honestly performed, and for Power Metal features some actual riffing, strong melodies, and catchy choruses then it’s enjoyable. Then again, I won’t return to it as much as I would a groundbreaking release, but that goes without saying. When it comes down to it Domination is simply put, really good. There is an excellent mix of song styles ranging from double bass monsters, to progressive tracks, to highly melodic mid-paced tracks, and almost everything in between. Thankfully, they aren’t a Power Metal band that completely relies on double bass either, though it’s definitely present. Moreover, the keyboards play a rather big role as they are up front, but so are the guitars so they mix well together; in this sense the best comparisons to Edguy can be made. The riffs are the same type of heavy Power Metal riffs found in some Edguy songs, most of Freternia’s work, and recent Nocturnal Rites; in essence they occasionally have a slight Speed Metal touch, which I always enjoy.

We all know Power Metal wouldn’t be Power Metal without the ever important memorable and catchy chorus and Morifade deliver in almost every song. Though they falter somewhat near the end of the CD (not including the bonus tracks), the first three quarters of the CD have the type of songs that will be stuck in your head with their infectious back up vocals and clever combination of guitar lead melodies and vocal melodies. The vocalist tends to stay in the mid to high range and though almost everyone else uses this style, the sound of his voice is somewhat unique and doesn’t really sound like anyone. Also, the leads are especially good as they come in both the melodic variety and the completely ripping, explosive variety as heard on the opening track, Parellels.

As you might expect, there is a lot of variety here and Morifade never rely on one tempo or basic song structures very often, which in the end makes the CD very enjoyable over multiple listens. However, as mentioned the problem with this CD is though extremely well done, Edguy, Freternia, and countless others have done this style of Power Metal with the same amount of progressive elements, tempo changes, and riff styles before. With that being said I still highly recommend this release to Power Metal fans because it really is competently done it’s just not all that original. I should also note that there are about three versions of this release available. The one I recommend picking up, if you can, is the Japanese edition which features four bonus tracks, all of which fit in well with the rest of the CD and one of them, Tomorrow Knows, is actually one of the strongest tracks on the CD. So there you go, try before you buy, but hardcore Power Metal fans take notice, you should like this.

Killing Songs :
Parelles, Silent Revolution, Clarity (Fragments Of A Dream), Erase
Crims quoted 82 / 100
Other albums by Morifade that we have reviewed:
Morifade - Imaginarium reviewed by Mike and quoted 78 / 100
Morifade - Cast A Spell reviewed by Danny and quoted no quote
Morifade - Possession Of Power reviewed by Chris and quoted 87 / 100
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