Years beyond their exploration of the terrors of the deepest, darkest corners of the terrestrial Dunkirk, France-borne death-thrash metal quartet MORTAL SCEPTER now aggress upon the limitless unknown, the horrors of the celestial expanse within this inspired sophomore full-length album. Still a classicist force honing in on dense and rapacious riff-railing furor their work on ‘Ethereal Dominance‘ is built by and for those seeking an authentic return to the standards of the mid-to-late 80’s thrash ’til death reality, a true vortex of extrasensorial hail and extremist tradition. Though they’ve polished up their render and refined where suitable this is yet an act of indomitable aggression in the best tradition of this long underfed niche, one which reinforces their own character and contribution to it throughout.

Formed as a quartet circa 2012 with more of a black/thrash metal inspired attack to start Mortal Scepter would shift gears from earlier Teutonic evil thrash-minded violence toward something more clearly inspired by ‘old school’ death/thrash metal beyond their first few minor releases. The shift into ancient thrashing death metal sounds as probably most clear on an earlier split release but it was their debut LP (‘Where Light Suffocates‘, 2019) that’d characterized their riff-obsessed sound. In review of that record I’d traced the increasingly exaggerative line that exists between where Slayer and Kreator started and where Merciless, Agressor and Massacra picked up and how this’d lined up with the classic 80’s ’til 90’s transition of formative French death metal style as well as the band’s own intensely stabbed-at approach to the riff. It’d been one of the more authentic records in said niche that year earning a spot at #71 on my Best of 2019 list while cementing the band’s name in (my) mind as some of the better riffcraft cutters in the death-thrashing realm.

For album number two Mortal Scepter‘s line-up, ‘old school’ sensibilities, and overall focus haven’t been altered away from their core impact though their production values have sharpened (via engineer/mixer Raph Henry, mastering from Benoît Roux) allowing more definition and balance afforded the rhythm section without losing the echoic horror of their vocals and the main event: The jagged cuts of their riffcraft. Most of the quartet’s rhythmic acumen occurs within ~4 minute thrash metal songs given a kinetic jolt by way of fast-scaling movement most all of which is densely stated in escalating thread. Sometimes this follows a general speed/heavy metal shape (re: “Redshifting to Death”) and other times their rhythms build toward tech-thrash adjacent quick-changes (“Reverse Paradigm”) but in either case the pure thrash metal roots of their work are always evident.

Opener/title track “Ethereal Dominance” has at least a hint of each mode in hand where the wrathful snap of the rhythm guitar hand and its ‘Hell Awaits‘-leveled gallop provide muscular yet quickly vacillating control up front and some quieter flourishes amidst a pretty blazing solo in the final third introduce some finessed odd-timed movement within the songs conclusion. In slight contrast the triplet carved introduction to “Blindsight” feels like one of many odes to Hanneman-handed acts ’til the almost ‘Extreme Aggression‘-esque ride through the remainder of the song begins to speak another language, achieving a few waves that’re nigh melodious in the greater cinema of the song. Regardless of how you parse any given section the overall effect of this piece in particular took me back to years spent exploring every facet of classic-era thrash and its more aggressive component and in this sense Mortal Scepter once again bear an authenticity very few achieve with any sort of personalized hand anymore.

Where are the most insane, ear-concussing riffs on ‘Ethereal Dominance‘? For my own taste “Submit to the Crave” may not be the most sophisticated striker available here but there is serious adrenaline behind its battery and an intricate yet incendiary hand applied to its riffcraft. It may just as well be the closest overall to pure death metal we get per its mid-paced and stamping middle section otherwise. Anyone familiar with my own taste in death/thrash will instantly read “Sense Ablation” as exactly my kind of crossover between evil Teutonic thrash staging, elastically charged ranting runs, and the “Fire Death Fate” era Insanity-esque bound-and-strike found within its final third (see: ~3:22 minutes in). With those two songs in mind as standouts I’d just as well mention the impressive 10+ minute closer “Into the Wolves Den”, a heavy metal woven thrash opus and one of the more successful threads of riff carried through Mortal Scepter‘s greater ouevre overall on the full listen.

Though I’m not sure Mortal Scepter are the fastest, heaviest or most technical death/thrash metal band on the planet their identity counts for a lot more here as it comes even more clearly into focus when sitting with each of their full-lengths to date. While some of the uglier, hollowed late 80’s proto-death caverne of their debut is traded for enriched clarity today this doesn’t have an adverse effect upon the ancient violence available to their skeleton, instead lending a different shade of wrath to their legacy. For the ‘old school’ obsessed who won’t settle for halfway there or purely aesthetic semblance a record like ‘Ethereal Dominance‘ will undoubtedly read as the real thing and a fine collection of athletically shot guitar driven aggression. A high recommendation.

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