Album Review: Mortal Scepter - Ethereal Dominance
Reviewed by Sam Jones
We’ve covered numerous acts from France before but thrash isn’talways the nation’s most repudiated metal style. Formed in 2012 out of the town of Dunkirk, Mortal Scepter are a thrash act who throughout the 2010s peppered audiences with their first 2014 Demo, then their 2015 EP As Time Sharpens The Sentence, followed by a Split in 2018 with Deathroned. The band’s first major release, their debut album Where Light Suffocates, came out in 2019 and through Xtreem Music no less. It’s been six years and at last, again with the same record label, Mortal Scepter have their second full length record poised for release: Ethereal Dominance. Primed for a September 9th release this is my first, and many others’, first exposure to the band and thus an opportunity discerning their merit. This is Ethereal Dominance.
Right out of the gate Mortal Scepter get you on board with their sound; i know it took next to no time to get me headbanging and I think the reason why is the bass layering the record. When one listens you’ll be able to feel the clenched hand the band throws your way, for its not just speed and the ferocity bounded up in their riffs. The actual basslines might not always be wholly audible at any moment but their implementation within the mix absolutely aids the band in propelling their sound forward. It doesn’t take the band long for them to feel like thrash of the heydays yet Mortal Scepter evidently possess their own identity and the bass enables their performance to push through barrier after barrier including ourselves; this is thrash i love whereby the music is moving through you as opposed to simply coming to a halt before your person. This is all the more important with Ethereal Dominance since the guitar work is a little higher-pitched than most thrash bands would opt for, but with bass like this it creates a piercing thrust that isn’t going to stop at the skin simply because you’ve started to bleed. Prepare to see that blade fully invade your body.
With that said, there’s no doubt these guys play fast. To me, thrash metal is at its greatest and most interesting when bands are playing to the very limit of their ability with speeds sending audiences into furious flurries. How many times have we heard newer thrash acts where its racing by yet we can still feel the constrictive control on their songwriting; Mortal Scepter truly cut themselves loose and throw everything to the wind in the name of speed. Yet as fast as they play you know they’ve got just enough control on their performance that you’re confident in where they’ll be taking you. This is the kind of thrash you can imagine wild pits breaking out because the audience will revel in the sheer savagery of the band’s fervour. In addition, their riffs develop just as rapidly too for they don’t play dumbed down, simplified pieces, instead the riffs are technical and everchanging. You'll feel yourself bowled over by the breakneck urgency the band perform with, where precision and speed come to dance in toxic waltz. That higher pitch in the guitar tone also allows riff sections to stand out more thus giving you the incentive to pay closer attention, only furthering your engagement with Mortal Scepter.
Personally, I believe the drums, within the confines of this record, sound perfect. As per the performance its something you’ve heard many times over but regarding the mix, they feel weaponised; they haven’t had a slew of overly complex patterns thrown in and the acoustics are what help them stand out. The drums have this taut resonance to them yet aren’t so tight that drumsticks can’t bounce off the skin, as a result when the drums play at speed (which is most of the time) they always feel alive and active even as the guitar work is breaking out ripping solos or the vocals snarl. Furthermorethe mix aids the drums too for they feel a little further back away from the rest of the band however, given the crashing clarity the drums are bestowed with it ensures they won’t clash with other instrumental components. Its great to hear drums that have been given the freedom to let loose their chaos within a thrash band; returning to my original point, so many thrash acts particularly of the newer wave seem to lean on this need for tightly wound control. Now songwriting naturally requires this but, within the context of thrash metal ,you want to infer hell is breaking loose and the drums provide that critical aspect to why Mortal Scepter feel so dangerous.
One could deem Mortal Scepter a thrash/death metal band; they certainly have the intensity to live up to that title. But you have vocals like this that kick with a blackened flair and while they would not work within a black metal record, they vibe perfectly within the sound Mortal Scepter craft. Its that higher pitch their guitar work has, the vocals weave themselves within the riffs’ tone to the point where I couldn't imagine any other vocal delivery working. Of course you could utilise a more bellowing or growling vocal style but then it wouldn’t be Mortal Scepter, it would be just another thrash act; Mortal Scepter, through their vocals, assume a lethality through speed and aggression few this year have matched. Vocally its something you’ve heard in blackened thrash records in the past yet this delivery pulls back on the ferocity just enough that they can entwine with more conventional thrash riffs. The choices leading Mortal Scepter to this vocal delivery, this riff style, this guitar tone, those drums etc is utter magic. It really is that collaboration of multiple, inspired choices culminating into an awesome record that may surprise some given what’s waiting on record, but I'm not complaining.
In conclusion, this is an excellent thrash record that reminds us just how great this music can be when its played to the maximum effect. Its the kind of album imploring us to think later and thrash now. Ethereal Dominance revels in carnage and one can imagine the wasted crowds, broken and exhausted, by the end of their live sets. This peculiar combination of blackened vocals alongside loftier riffs with drums piercing through the din might not be every band’s choice, but it works for what Mortal Scepter seek out to create. Ethereal Dominance is over forty minutes long but you’ll hardly feel that time pass you by whilst this record chases you, hounding you, for every second you’re in its den. I thoroughly enjoyed this and is definitely one of my preferred thrash albums so far this year; Mortal Scepter are a case study band in how to do thrash right in 2025.
