With many of Solid State’s premiere bands growing more melodic over time (and one might say, somewhat stale… looking at you DEMON HUNTER and HASTE THE DAY), Dynasty is a shot in the arm of rippin’ death metal with bona fide technical attributes. No hokey melodic singing parts on this one… and definitely no good cop/bad cop mid-tempo forced arrangements. Detroit’s AS THEY SLEEP could just as easily find a home on Relapse or Metal Blade with their level of proficiency and songwriting composure. With a not-so-hidden fever for thrash, Dynasty moves fast and with a bit of swagger in its 37 minute duration. Notably, Dynasty reminds me a lot of the first full-length from current labelmates THE SHOWDOWN, whose Chorus of Obliteration had a lot of the same musical elements, but much more wannabe-METALLICA in the vocals (which have since improved greatly… and are now imitation-PANTERA). Lyrically, Dynasty hits on a popular present theme – the rise and fall of empires, something that’s been bandied about with great interest since the dawn of ‘the great recession’ more than two years ago. While the band doesn’t bog itself down with references to derivatives trading and mortgage backed securities(and in fact, Egypt and Rome get most of the focus, though certainly there’s plenty of material to talk about from home), AS THEY SLEEP wisely cautions against buying into our own arrogance and greed.  Solid words, solid tunes… no real surprise coming from Solid State.