Wielded Steel Sins Of Your Domain Review
Wielded Steel
Sins of Your Domain
1126 Records
2026
Alabama. Probably not known for much, I'll grant you that. But famously, film’s Forrest Gump is from there, as are Cancerslug, UAB sports, and some seriously good coastal seafood. My point is, it's not necessarily a hotbed for music, especially music that resides on the heavier, metallic end of the spectrum. Wielded Steel are laser-focused on changing that with their brand new, pit-inducing full-length, Sins of Your Domain.
Wielded Steel have been kicking around for some time, and they've honed their sound to a violent mash-up between death metal and hardcore. This ain't deathcore, and the band are quick to point that out. From their press, “I’ve got a lot of feelings when it comes to the word deathcore,” notes vocalist Jesse Clark. “It’s used to describe every stadium band that tries to tune their guitar the lowest and have the longest breakdown possible.” Noted, sir, and honestly, completely agreeable. Wielded Steel are coming from more the Internal Bleeding meets Irate side of the street, and it's all brutal, scathing, and intense. Devoid of any melody, these eight songs and an intro are just pissed off and monolithically heavy.
Produced, mixed, and mastered by Kevin Langley, the production is what you would expect from stuff of this ilk. It's modern, loud, and focused mainly on a vocals-, guitar-, and drum-forward mix. If I had any complaints or nitpicks, it's that the snare has a bit too much ping or clang for my taste, but that's just personal preference. Wielded Steel never seem to relent from a solid, chugging, mid- to slower pace, but it honestly makes the venom and angst they are doling out feel that much harder, “Fabricated Integrity” being a shining example. Guitarist Michael Caroenter also has a knack for writing riffs that have a simple, stripped-down technicality to them that then morph into more intricate rhythms. This approach is most notable in “Your Words Mean Nothing” and “In The Line Of Fire” (feat. Blaythe Steuer of No Cure). Vocalist Jesse Clark sounds downright incendiary, going from a controlled lower growl to black metal-esque screams and just good old-fashioned shouting. As with all death metal via hardcore, there are breakdowns and mosh parts aplenty, handled tightly and proficiently by drummer Cyrus Patel. These are bone-breaking songs that serve to just groove and pump your blood up. The songs seem to call out people for, quite frankly, not being very good people. According to Clark, “Lyrically, Sins Of Your Domain is a record about how people I see as evil should be made to acknowledge and, in one way or another, atone for their sins committed by their 'domain.’ Whether that's their country, their class, their corrupt belief systems, or the people they surround themselves with.” These tunes have something relevant to say, and that continues with hardcore's tradition of bringing it real and relatable with your words, backed by an explosive backdrop of meat-and-potatoes, death-infused NYHC stylings.
Sins of Your Domain is consistent, fully realized, and arranged perfectly, and we are only out of 21 minutes in its entirety. Trust when I say you're gonna feel like you've been beaten with ball-peen hammers repeatedly once the running time stops. Wielded Steel are a vicious, misanthropic, worthy addition to the death metal/hardcore scene and offer up an album that, while it sounds familiar, has plenty of new knuckles to bloody our teeth with. Here's to putting Alabama on an already bruised-up map. Relentless….
TB