CLOVEN HOOF · Dominator | CD

Slipcase CD. Mastered by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony.

Background information about 'Dominator'

Dominator is where Cloven Hoof plant their flag in the dirt and dare the rest of the NWOBHM pack to come and take it. Reissued in a sharp slipcase edition, this record still hits like a hammer wrapped in velvet: the riffs are huge, the choruses are bigger, and Russ North's voice sits somewhere between a preacher and a warlord, absolutely commanding every bar. The title track alone is worth the price of admission, a slow-building monster that erupts into one of the most gloriously over-the-top hooks the genre ever produced. Elsewhere the band flexes real muscle, trading galloping twin-guitar attacks for brooding, doom-tinged passages, and it all lands with the kind of conviction that only comes from a band who genuinely believed every word they were screaming.

What makes Dominator endure is the sheer personality of it. This is heavy metal with a wink and a snarl, theatrical without ever tipping into parody, and remastered here by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony it sounds punchier and more immediate than ever, the low end finally given room to breathe while the guitars keep every ounce of their bite. For anyone who came up on the classic British steel of the early eighties, this is a reminder of just how wild and unhinged that era could get, and for newcomers it is a perfect doorway into one of the most underrated catalogs in the movement.

For fans of: Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Satan, Tygers of Pan Tang, Grim Reaper

Track listing

A1. Rising Up
A2. Nova Battlestar
A3. Reach For The Sky
A4. Warrior Of The Wasteland
B1. The Invaders
B2. Fugitive
B3. Dominator
B4. Road Of Eagles

Manufacturer: High Roller Records, Bertolt-Brecht-Str. 1a, 08412 Werdau, Germany, Contact: www.hrrecords.de