Metal Underground.com

With "Dominate And Overload," the Norwegian bashers in Fracture make a clean break from the rest of the progressive and power metal pack, combining the usual hypertechnical guitar flourishes with a heavier, thrashier sound than usually found in the genre. It's hard to believe you're listening to a debut album when the band's as tight as this one is.

Singer Pal Strand offers up a combination of soaring vocals a la Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, and an amazing shriek on "Apple Of Eden" that will immediately have you thinking of Rob Halford and Tim "Ripper" Owens. Guitarists Wegard Golebiowski and Jostein Thomassen have a great rapport, and the solos meld together well on tracks like "Wavemaster."

The rhythm section is powered by the superb Per Morten Bergseth on drums and Lars Stian Havraas on bass. Bergseth in particular is impressive, offering the speed of a power metal drummer, while also maintaining a heavier-hitting approach that adds a lot of weight.

Generally, it's the faster tracks, like the superb opener, "Sulphur Preacher" and the excellent title track, "Dominate And Overload" that will get your blood boiling, but slower stuff like the partly acoustic "Soulcatcher" also works quite well.

The album has only a couple of bum tracks. "Stranger Within" is a Dio-esque rocker that just never manages to soar the way it should, and the closer, "I Just Smile" is a bit disjointed. That still leaves seven excellent tracks, which is more than you get on a lot of albums lately.

Whether you like your metal technical and progressive, or thrashy and fast, you'll find something to love here. With their debut album, Fracture has created 41 minutes that will "Dominate And Overload" your senses in the best possible way.