Rise To Dominate is technical death metal with cutting riffs, clever solos and an air of menancing brutality. The songs are intense, yet have some catchy moments. Aeon wisely varies the tempos from blazing fast to crushingly slow, which helps avoid monotony. A couple songs sound like they are on cruise control, but for the most part are powerful with a real impact.
Tommy Dahlstrom's vocals are the typical death metal growls, but his delivery makes the hateful and blasphemous lyrics perfectly understandable, which is rarely the case in this genre. Dan Swano (Opeth, Dark Funeral, Marduk) mixed and mastered the CD, and he did a nice job showcasing Aeon's musicianship without putting too much polish on it. Rise To Dominate shows that Aeon is one of the up and comers in death metal.
