History & Biography This Norwegian band was formed as early as 1992 and issued the Sanctuary demo 1996, Fallen demo 2002 and Blackened Memories demo in 2004. The band's founders were Urbanski and Johansen who had started the band to play Metallica cover songs. Influenced by Death, the Norwegians turned to death metal and released several demos until signing to Morbid Records. The band lost guitarist Paul Mozart Bjørke before the album's debut. The group was also nominated to play in Germany at Morbid Records festival in the autumn of 2005.
Reviews CRITERION - THE DOMINANT - MORBID
As far as death metal bands go, finding one nowadays that is true to the art or does not necessitate stupid qualifications like 'melodic' or 'groovy' is getting increasingly difficult. Enter, Criterion! The Norwegian quartet has an album here that alternates between standard and pure death metal, a la Monstrosity or Disincarnate for example, and a more complex brand of brutality with rhythm changes and adept soloing. The album begins with the song Demoniac Replacement and through songs like The Slayer, Obliteration and others builds up to the disc's triumphant final tune, The Dominant. There is not much to discuss here in terms of deviation or peculiarities. Fans should just be grateful that some people don't glean their styles by fads, magazine reviews or Internet fora. - Ali "The Metallian"
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