Review of the Album "One Million Lightyears From Home" by German Hard Rock Band Domain

Domain is a German band that I got into several years ago due to having a personal connection with their former lead vocalist Carsten “Lizard” Schulz. The album One Million Lightyears from Home is hard rock that has a sort of symphonic feel to it because of the keyboard play. The lyrical themes on this album are about love and relationships. Well, like that’s a real surprise there. No, that was a bit of sarcasm but the album is the only album that I have heard from Domain and the band is on hold.

One Million Lightyears from Home is a song that encourages us to remember that life is too short for us to be consumed by sorrow. We have to go forward and create the brightest future possible. Although the song says that hope is the feeling that holds the key to a better life, a positive attitude is actually better than hope. Then comes the song Trail of Fools and the message is that we should stick to our principles, values, and beliefs even if others are trying to discourage us. If I had listened to others, I would not have become a published writer like I am now and really these album reviews can encourage fans to hear the true beauty of heavy metal and hard rock music.

Hoping for something good seems like a good idea in theory but it is expressing that we don’t yet have what we want in our lives. Nonetheless, Trail of Fools is the better of these first two songs.

Then comes a series of songs about love and relationships such as the towering vocal performance of Carsten Schulz in the song Can’t Stand What You Do To Me. This is a song that can show that sometimes there can be a lack of proper communication and misunderstanding in relationships. Why does one partner leave the other? There are lots of unanswered questions when a love relationship ends. Wings of Destiny is a song about what happens when we miss someone intensely. If you miss someone, make sure to let them know. Move On features Carsten singing at one of his highest ranges that I have heard. The song is about having had enough of a dysfunctional relationship or a woman’s maze. When it Comes to Love is a song about letting love happen but we must let go of being attached to it. The key is to let love happen and not be afraid of it. Most of us are going to end up falling in love at least once because humans are very social creatures.

When it comes to love, the hardest thing to do is to let go and trust that the process will work out in the manner that it should. True love is the best kind of love but sadly in countries such as the United States many individuals don’t treat love the way that they should.

There is a cover of the song Fumble Fingers done by guitarist Axel Ritt as he puts his own modern twist to it and I have always loved classical music since about 1992. The original piece was written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. New Horizon has this Europe influenced feel to it as the song is about getting away from the boredoms and usual mundane existence of our daily lives and making drastic changes. These drastic changes could be something like moving to a different country or moving to a different city in the country you are living in now. I myself cannot really change countries at the moment but hopefully fans in North America can be exposed to the music of Domain and enjoy it like I did. Ending this album is the most beautiful instrumental song called Gary Boy which is dedicated to guitarist Gary Moore. The passion in Axel Ritt’s guitar play can be heard even through all the mid-tempo leads but then by the 2:18 mark you will hear some of the most beautiful lead guitars known to man. You have to hear it to believe it. One Million Lightyears from Home is by no means a flawless hard rock album but it is better than hard rock produced in the United States. Even when they are not at elite status, Germany is a country that still performs well enough musically!

Looking back at this 2001 album, it still feels fresh musically. Especially in the song “Can’t Stand (What You Do to Me), the power and range of Carsten’s vocals are evident. Even though the album focuses on love and dysfunctional relationships, does love have to be that way? We are brought up in a society that teaches us that love has to be painful. Is it really? Regardless of that, love and relationships is a subject that has been done so many times in music particularly hard rock and heavy metal.

Strongest songs in the album "One Million Lightyears from Home"

• Trail of Fools
• Can’t Stand What You Do to Me
• New Horizon
• When It Comes to Love
• Gary Boy