Band:	Dominia
Album:	Theophania
Style:	Melodic death metal, Symphonic death metal, Gothic metal
Release date:	September 2014

01. Everyone Else
02. Death Only
03. The Shadow Of The Lost Prophet
04. Mother Plague
05. Unseen Artist Realm
06. Your Senseless Hope
07. The Final Trip
08. A Murderer
09. In Solitude

Whilst melodic death gets a bad reputation for a lack of diversity or ambition, there are bands that manage to add a unique take on the sound. Evading the simplistic, energized catchiness of the Gothenburg bands or the melancholy of the Finnish melodeath style, Russian band Dominia's 2006 debut, Divine Revolution maintained melodeath's hookiness, but offered lengthy and well-structured songs, plenty of tonal variance, and, most notably of all, a dominant violin; often a recipe for cheese but excellently utilised in this instance. Rounded off with tasteful piano interludes, powerful vocals and a distinctive production job with both roughness and imperfections but also clarity, it was a fine effort that promised much from a potential new name on the melodeath scene. However, after a sophomore release in 2009, the band went quiet for a few years, and Theophania's release this year came and went without so much as a whisper in the metal scene, myself discovering its existence merely by chance. So what does the band have to offer this time round?

The most notable change is the introduction of gothic metal into their sound. Now, opinions may vary depending on personal interest in gothic metal, but I found the addition to be detrimental to the sound in this band's instance. The more dour tone and subdued sound of certain songs lack the character of the band's more aggressive, less mopey efforts, and the clean male/female vocal duets that turn up on multiple songs really don't demonstrate Dominia's strengths. Also, whilst the expected violin within the first few seconds, it then falls somewhat away from the spotlight in the first couple songs to fill the mix alongside undeveloped female cleans, trudging riffs, and keys and extreme vocals lacking some of the charisma that they had on their debut. However, when the strings are allowed to shine on those songs, they demonstrate what a strong contribution they make to the band's sound, lighting up less remarkable moments and accentuating stronger parts. Finally, the lengthy songs, previously so well constructed and consistently entertaining, at times lose their way here, with 'Death Only' particularly dragging beyond its optimal runtime.

However, characteristics of what made Divine Revolution so great are still present on Theophania. The melodeath aggression first truly comes to the fore on 'The Shadow Of The Lost Prophet', a song that offers some much-appreciated relief from the tedious gothic parts and also allows the violin to shine for the first time towards its end. Additionally, the male clean vocals work really well when they're not trying to wallow in sadness. Furthermore, the more downbeat feel of the album begins to come into its own on later tracks - 'The Final Trip', in the first half more doom-y than melodeath, has some really nice clean guitar and violin before leading into a very satisfying upbeat midsection and moving finale. Finally, the extended closing track 'In Solitude', whilst no 'Mountain Of God's Depression', takes a while to fully develop but brings the album to a strong close with acrobatic strings and thumping double bass drumming leading into grandiose melancholy.

I respect Dominia's decision to bring new elements into their sound and not satisfy themselves with repeating a previously successful sound, but in this particular instance I'm not sure whether the change in direction is one that necessarily brings the most out of their talents. Nevertheless, the downbeat, gothic-style tone of the music does offer up some nice moments and uses of the band's signature weapon, and throwbacks to their more upbeat melodeath sound are consistently great. A less interesting album than their debut, Theophania is still a nice piece of work that may be worth your time if a mix of strings, gothic and melodeath sounds intriguing.