Pyromancer - Absolute Dominion By Fire

How does an extreme metal band in 2025 release a track that is memorable, or for that matter, a whole album? It remains to be seen, but we have likely seen and heard everything that can be seen and heard. The catchy riffs, vocal hooks, evil synths and clever samples from horror movies are an iteration of an iteration. These are not bad things, and you can’t blame the bands for what has come before them. It is what history is. The creative process does not mean it needs to be unique. Writers borrow from each other all the time. To be memorable can mean other things though. If In the Nightside Eclipse or The Return of Darkness and Evil were released today, I wonder what would be said about them. Emperor and Bathory played in the recesses of darkness and evil very early on, and were lucky enough to be pioneers.

Here I will discuss how Pyromancer’s debut album is memorable, in a good way, it is a killer album. One of my favourite albums from 2024 was Satanic Inversion Of… by Avmakt. Satanic Inversion Of… was not innovative or technical, but it was memorable because of its mood and attitude. It was raw, and did have a few catchy moments, but its authenticity set it apart from some other big Black Metal releases - I believed in Avmakt, and because I believed in it, I returned to it time and time again. Absolute Dominion By Fire by Pyromancer from Kentucky is one of those rare albums where you can associate temperature with music. That temperature is red hot. For his rebellion against God, Lucifer was cast into the eternal flame, and Pyromancer live there.

It has been a long time between releases for Pyromancer who released their demo in 2015. Usually you would see a change in style or sound in 9 years. Not with these pyros though. The demo sits comfortably beside Absolute Dominion By Fire, and it’s a Black Metal inferno. One look at the Absolute Dominion By Fire track list warms the soul. You have titles with the words immolation, cremation, inferno, fireborn, red death, volcanos and pyres. Pyromancer are consistent, and if nothing else, that is what makes Absolute Dominion By Fire a killer listen. You can’t feel anything other than heat when you listen to this, and it is a perfect example of a band on fire.

“Igniting the Sacrificial Pyre” opens the album with an ominous presence, the voice of Belial awaiting the flame. The song erupts after a minute with a head slamming riff that morphs into a traditional Black Metal tremolo section. You don’t hear the whammy bar much in extreme metal nowadays, but Pyromancer use it here to great effect. It is a great opening track, and back to that word - memorable.

The guitar tone on Absolute Dominion By Fire is like a devil swallowing knives. It’s not a unique sound but it’s a proven winner. The production is raw but it’s perfect for what they are conveying here. “Ancient Hatred” continues a fast paced opening, leaning more towards first wave black metal than anything, but there are also death metal moments.

Pyromancer used repetition very well, it is a cyclical approach to songwriting as well - good simple songwriting. “Perverse Immolation” drops back into mid paced territory for the first time and it works very well with a brooding synth over the top giving some Emperor vibes. Pyromancer are very good at subtle shifts within the same pocket, giving variation but delivering it without it sounding jarring. Again, this adds to the consistency.

Sometimes that consistency can become monotonous though, and there is a balance required at times, and a song like “Unholy Cremation” does not add anything new to the front half of the album. For this type of Black Metal (with some Death Metal flourishes), 39 minutes in duration across 12 tracks is 5-6 minutes two long, but that is the only slight issue here.

It is hard to believe that this could get any sinister, but “Barbaric Wrath” does that, edging more into Death Metal at times. They do this again on “Inferno,” trading vocal styles between the two musicians. The title track is the sounds of hell erupting, bringing in a thrash pace. Then Pyromancer slow things down into Doom territory with “Pit of Writhing Horror,” which explodes terrifically in the second half, reflecting the gates of hell opening.

Absolute Dominion By Fire does not have anything in its elements that any extreme metal band before has not used or tapped into, but it is Pyromancer’s ability to execute, remain consistent and believable, while writing and recording an album dripping with personality and pure evil.

Killer!!!