Video Nasties - Dominion

When Dominion dropped in March 2020, Video Nasties emerged as something more than just another horror-themed heavy band. With their mix of blackened fury, thrash speed, groove metal swagger and shades of horror movie atmosphere, this debut album feels like it was born to dominate the dark. Dominion doesn’t just reference the aesthetics of horror—it owns them, moulds them into riffs and dread, then sets them loose in brutal, rollicking form.

From the moment Stay Gold opens with eerie samples and white noise, there’s no mistaking what you’re in for. The album rips through tracks like Hanging Tree, Red of Night and Stabbing Nightmare with a vicious energy—vocals snarling, guitars palm-muted one moment, soaring or riffing the next; riffs that carry genuine groove beneath the aggression. Yet for all its blood and gore imagery, there’s a hollowness at the core: broken relationships, longing, despair, even twisted love, glimpsed through the carnage. Dominion isn’t just horror for shock—it’s horror with heart.

What makes Dominion classically great is how well it balances its extremes. The production is slick and large-scale without losing the grime; the horror film samples, the Carpenter-influenced synths, the moments of post-punk swagger—they all add texture rather than distract. It’s like watching your favourite VHS gore-fest remastered: still nasty, still raw, but every cut, every scream, now sharper.

In the UK scene of 2020, where horror-metal sometimes felt like style over substance, Dominion stood out. It was audacious, theatrical, vicious, and fun. It was an album that invited listeners to lose themselves in its darkness, but also rewarded them when they listened past the surface. Dominion earned its place as a black’n’roll classic—sleazy, savage, and spectacular.

Release date: 13th March 2020

A1: Stay Gold

A2: Hanging Tree

A3: Helvetica

A4: Transvoltum

A5: Red Of Night

B1: Viva Death

B2: Drone Eagle

B3: Stabbing Nightmare

B4: Dominion

B5: They Rise

Tommy Lloyd – guitar

Rick Owen – bass

Dave Archer – drums

Damian Von Talbot – vox

Stu Taylor – guitar

Recorded by Stu Taylor at Begsy Studio, Elevator Tombs and mixed / mastered by Tom Dring at Vagrant Studios.

The track Dominion was composed by Dave Archer aka Horrorgob using an Atari ST.

Band photography by Lu Lowe.

Artwork by Alexandre Goulet.

All songs written by Video Nasties.