Dominus – The First 9 (Plastic
Head) 1996
By Chris Davison
"The First 9" is a concept story
built up over 9 chapters.
"Actually the story is true, as I somehow feel I have
lived thru the first 3
stages in a former life. I dreamt these first 3 episodes
and part of the others.
The thing is; I've created a Kingdom in my dreams, a
Kingdom ruled by the
Crystal Demon served by 9 demons. I've given life to
these 9 demons, but they
are still incomplete and I haven't yet succeeded
dreaming onto the chapters where
they're endowed with eternal life. Therefore "The First
9" invites me into my
own dream to complete the birth of the 9 demons. I'm
left with two options: 1)
to travel through the Kingdom of the Crystal demon and
sacrifice 9 persons to his 9
demons or 2) I get 3 times 3 dream-days to complete the
story. Either way gives
the 9 demons and the Kingdom eternal life. There is no
way of refusing this as I
will then be one of the 9 victims.
I chose option 1"
...thus begins the liner notes to the frankly bat-shit
mental 1996 Danish death metal album by the perennially
under rated Dominus. The band have become much better
known as the precursor outfit for the grammy award
winning Vol.beat these days, but back in the day, they
were one of a number of similar outfits bothering the
second tier of death metal. Their first album, a scando-death
metal album in the vein of Entombed, Grave and
Dismember, entitled “View to the Dim”, was an
entertaining enough affair, though cursed with a
wonderfully horrid production. “The First 9” was really
nothing like that album; gone were the grim (Viking
inspired) lyrics and old school aesthetics, and in were
rampant displays of thrash metal influences, groovy
death metal not, unlike their then label mates and
compatriots Konkhra, and some of the most schizophrenic
vocals heard this side of a King Diamond album.
Infectious opener “Dancing with Magic” started the album
with a kick. Equal parts Megadeth styled shredding,
Konkhra rhythms and percussion and traditional heavy
metal licks, this was probably the crown in the jewel of
the whole “death and roll” sub genre that burned
brightly for a year or two. This was released round
about the same time as other death metal acts who had
rediscovered the blues lick, as with Gorefest and their
“Soul Survivor” opus. The strange, bizarre vocals of
Michael Poulson, alternating between a typical but
discernible death metal roar, and weird nasally
inflected Dave Mustaine whine served only to accentuate
the otherworldly appeal of the songs here. A strange
concept album that made, I suspect, no sense to anyone
not called Michael Poulson. The tales of “The Burning
Maid”, “Ancient Emperor” and “Second Palace” wove an
intriguing, bewitching tale made all the more appealing
by the complete incomprehensibility of the subject
matter.
Such was my obsession with the album that I taped (!)
the CD with the tracks re-arranged to correspond with
the dream-journey of the narrator. Seriously. I suspect
that this may actually tell you more about what a
complete loser I am rather than the occult nature of the
opus, but honesty is my only virtue! The levels of
musicianship and songwriting displayed here were
peerless in 1996, with a progressive edge that was
extremely rare back then. The production values and
sound quality were, and remain, extremely crisp yet
still raw and vicious sounding.
...as to the cover art? Ah, well,
every classic has its own Achilles heel, and I guess
this is it. An odd (and curiously irrelevant) image of
what appears to be a series of bricks growing from some
dudes face. The crudely painted “9” on the side seems to
be the only connection to the album at all. It went on
to influence...no one, and indeed was largely forgotten
and ignored upon release, aside from a single, cheap
(but very entertaining) promo-video which I think
gathered some play on the “Into the Pit” segment of the
old MTV headbangers ball. Poulson and company would
ultimately descended further and further into
Elvis-related rock-metal tedium and away from the
eclectic genius of the First 9, but this album remains a
magnum opus, rare gem and guarded treasure in the
collection of any true connoisseur of the extreme.
Check out the
barmy video for “Dancing With Magic” for yourself
