Divinity Destroyed "Eden in Ashes" CD
[self-released]
I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's slightly doomy atmospheric metal that sounds like it would be at home on Hammerheart or Napalm Records or something like that if the band matured just a tad. Technically it's fairly sound, they're good musicians, and the writing is alright... I guess part of my problem with it is just a clash between this and my own personal tastes, but at the same time there are a lot of really cool characteristics that I think I could enjoy were circumstances a little more beneficial. For instance, "Threnody" opens up with some mildly progressive riffing that I find great, but the chorus of the song is way too upbeat and almost has a fucked up and unintentional sort of emo thing happening, which ruins the feel. The vocals shifting from growling/screaming to singing isn't bad, but the singing... well... it needs work. The lead singing vocals aren't horrible, hell, they're not really bad either... but they're quite restrained and monotonous, so there's not that much emotion there. They come off as a little dry and plain, which hurts the final impact of the songs. The guitar players and the bassist are all quite good, though. I don't think the keyboards really add to their sound all that much, they're not always problematic, but I think thickening up the guitars and letting the riffs run the show even more might be a good idea. I especially love the clean/acoustic guitars though, as they tend to sound very lush, and those particular breaks are really well written. Some of the tempos are too "boppy" for me, especially when the rhythmic sort of stop/start stuff gets tossed into the mix, and I think that's my main gripe with the way the songs flow. But make no mistake, the overdramatic spoken vocals and wealth of synths that open "Nothing But a Shadow" are way too much for me to handle, I can't get into that stuff at all. Production? The drums sound programmed in a lot of cases, and the bass often gets shuffled to the back, which is unfortunate because the bass runs are really fucking tight. I think the drums are too loud as well. For this stuff guitars need to come to the fore, followed very closely by bass, then the percussion and vocals, and the keyboards can rest in the background if absolutely necessary. The packaging... well, in essence it's been handled professionally. The print quality and the concept aren't that bad. It looks fairly decent. However... and here's where I regrettably have to be a bit of an asshole... the band photos have got to go. Band photos are simply not important, and cheesy, posed band photos can destroy the aesthetic of any release faster than you can imagine. These kids are all just trying too hard - bitter facial expressions with hair hanging in their faces, one guy with a fuckin' bandana tied around his head (Huh?), that sort of thing... and keep in mind that these photos are given entire panels, surrounded by lyrics. It's just not good. The lyrics are dramatic and bleak and have one of those depressing/doom vibes that I can live with, even though I'm certainly not moved. A part of me would consider giving this a 6/10, but I just can't do it because I don't think there's one completely good song here, and there are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up. I'd like to hear the guitarists/bassist in a straight progressive band or some sort of band that's not so damn dramatic, but these kids have some talent... it's just a matter of what they do with it. (5/10)
Running time - 31:52, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: there are some really good portions, but no single song stands out]
Divinity Destroyed - http://www.divinitydestroyed.com

This review has been displayed 1530 times.