Authorize (SWE)- The Source Of Dominion CD

(Putrefaction Records 1991)

 

Thomas "Bizzon" Ek, the vocalist with his punky green mohawk looks like that clown thing from Prodigy but man, this guy growls like a confronted lion, ready to tear you limb from limb. Other than that, the album seriously looks like a solid induction to death. Starting their death metal career as Morbid Fear, this debut album from Authorize is as relatively shortlived, but they had a rather great reputation in the underground, all the way to god forbidden Singapore. Like most members of the Swedish art of "thick strings grating", they gave us a remarkable display of sheer brutality, robust workouts, energetic dynamics and also some melodic sensibility on this album. Unsatisfied with the monstrosity of Grave and Dismember, they tuned their strings lower into yet heavier extremity, the chord strummings being merely a cudgel instrumental to wallop brutal metal sheens for cataclysmic effects. Especially on "Broken Hypnosis" and the title track "The Source Of Dominion", the instrument punishes in cruel staccato, chopping chunks of bottom heaviness that you'd have mistaken for your flesh. The CD allows little breathing time and space, being tightly frenzied and fast paced, but on "God Of Christianity", I got stuck in a swamp of sloth, doomy sludge that at some times reminds me of Morbid Angel's underrated "God Of Emptiness". This CD, like all the other great titles from Putrefaction Records is out of print so it's pretty much sought after these days. The decent deathsters who claim to dig genuine Swedish death metal should seriously enjoy this album, but then it's not unexpected for someone who feel that such a "mindless work of brutality lacks the sensitive intricacy and emotion of such artists like Katatonia." Fade out.