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Crosswind blew me away with their demo compilation Opposing Forces back in 2010, and I was eagerly awaiting a proper album from them. Then, after four years, this album was released with so little fanfare that I didn’t hear about it for almost six months, and then took almost as long to actually get hold of it. Was it worth the wait? Mostly.

Crosswind do get cred for not padding out the album with cuts from the demos, and only one song, "Eye of the Storm", is a repeat here. The playing is tight and pro, and the recording job is just as solid as on the superlative demos. One thing that holds this down is that the band has throttled waaaay back on the speed since their demo days, and this album sounds oddly restrained. You get a lot of very polished, punchy metal songs with some really good riffs, but the trademark of this band on their old stuff was their frenetic, out-of-control speed. Opposing Forces fucking exploded out of the speakers at warp speed, the riffs shredding and careening all over each other, but here the music is choked back to a more mid-paced approach, and it is lessened by that.

There are some good songs here, like the riffy "Angels at War" and the kickass title track, but this album is haunted by the ghost of the album I wanted. I wanted shredding speed and exploding energy like I was promised on the demos, and this is not that. Vicious Dominion is good, but it could have been great.