This collaboration between Horseback and Locrian was a hotly anticipated one in several musical circles (particular if you were a fan of either outfit prior to hearing of this release), and the prospects of what these two projects might create together induced some mind blowing (think the head explosion scene in Scanners) possibilities in the heads of those of us who began salivating at the mere thought of this existing.
Let me be completely honest here, after being so completely taken to another place by Locrian with The Crystal World, I was hoping for something along the lines of a quasi religious experience with New Dominions; and with the months of anticipation building since the personal revelation of this collaboration, a certain level of expectations had built up to where I had become wary of said preconceived notions (which are 99% of the time bad ideas when building up records in your mind). When I finally held this beautiful looking record (seriously beautiful due to the artwork and overall clean presentation of the vinyl release) in my hands, the only thought in my mind was “how could this possibly live up to my expectations at this point?” My immediate reaction was to literally hide the album in my “to be listened to at some point” record shelf because I was afraid to listen to it in the completely wrong frame of mind, and I wanted to give these artists the attention that they deserved rather than the critical ear that they probably would have received at that point; literally several weeks passed when I found the record again and decided to pop it on the turntable.
My first thought as I was sitting there in the dark while New Dominions was that “The Gift” was a bit underwhelming (mainly because of the creepy old man vocals because repeated listening reveals some juicy drones and atmospheres), but my faith was rewarded as “The Epitaph” turned out to be every bit worth the anticipation with its intoning vocal monotones and long, roomy instrumental passages that set one hell of a gloomy mood.
I love listening to this record and zoning out, though it can be a tad depressing at times; but Jenks Miller (the man behind Horseback) and the Locrian boys definitely put up a winner with this record, and anyone trying to find a more exemplary track for setting these moods and hypnotic waves of sonic goodness will be hard pressed to do so. Oh yeah, this is just about sold out if not already so go grab it it or be a poser with the terrible MP3 rips that you stole left to console you.
2013 Update:
The CD version of New Dominions neatly compiles not only the one sided twelve inch collaboration from Horseback and Locrian but also includes the songs from the rare (only 300 copies issued by the United Kingdom label Turgid Animal) split seven inch between the two outfits as well as a remix of “The Gift” (courtesy of one James Plotkin of Jodis and formerly of the almighty Khanate along with a slew of other projects) that . The songs from the split seven inch are intriguing as “Oblivion Eaters” was my first exposure to Horseback by itself (the music is an excellent wave of sound with several spiraling guitars that spar with some disturbing vocals) while the Locrian contribution, “In The Absence Of Light”, is a low end bass heavy exploration in moody terror.
