UMUR "Dominion VIII" is the 8th full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Grave. The album was released through Regain Records in April 2008. It´s the successor to "As Rapture Comes" from 2006 and it features a few lineup changes compared to the predecessor. Guitarist Jonas Torndal has jumped ship and as he hasn´t been replaced here, lead vocalist/guitarist Ola Lindgren handles all guitars on the album. Drummer Pelle Ekegren has left too, but he has been replaced by Ronnie Bergerståhl. Fredrik Isaksson still handles the bass duties, so "Dominion VIII" was recorded as a three-piece.

Stylistically the material on the 9 track, 46:42 minutes long album continues the old school death metal style of "As Rapture Comes (2006)". As the sound production is also very similar to the sound production on the predecessor, the two albums are overall pretty similar in sound and style. The material is both well performed and well written, although there aren´t many tracks which can be called highlights. But while there aren´t many standout tracks on the album the general quality of the tracks are consistent. "Dominion VIII" is through and through a solid old school death metal release...

The growling vocals are brutal and relatively intelligible, the downtuned guitar riffs are dark and brutal, the drumming is pounding and rhythmically solid, and the powerful and brutal sound production further enhances the feeling that this is a quality release. A little more variation between tracks, and a couple of highlights would have elevated "Dominion VIII" to a higher level, but as it is, it´s still a good quality death metal release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.