Morbid Angel - Domination

I remember when this came out, the general consensus among people I knew was to avoid this at all costs, this being the first flawed MA attempt. In all fairness, the album's not that bad, but something is definitely amiss here. On the speed front, this is inhumanly fast, Pete Sandoval once more unneccessarily proving that he is the king of the blast, cranking things up another notch. The overall sound of the album is good, but much as the cover seems unfinished, the entire album seems patched together at times. Still, "bad" Morbid Angel is tenfold better than most anything else, and Domination, for all that it contains, good and bad, is still a strong album. Some of the best MA material to date is here, shining through on "slower" tracks such as Where the Slime Live or Caesar's Palace", but as a complete entity (the way I enjoy most albums), it seems like a step backwards from Covenant. Erik Rutan's presence is most welcome though, his tracks offered up among the best stuff on the album, and as I said, it's still a really good album, just not the greatness we've come to expect from these living legends.