Although their moniker might led us to believe that we’re about to deal with gentle and soul-reaching music replete with atmospheric, orchestral ambiences and grandiose, angelical vocals, Divinity are actually a pretty damn fierce and technical death-metal act from Canada.“The Singularity” is actually the group’s second album following a debut full-length for Nuclear Blast “Allegory” released in 2008 that regretfully had slipped under my radar unnoticed. Well, judging by some reviews that I’ve read about “Allegory” I’d say this new record follows the same lines as its predecessor, a powerful, technical and industrialized death-metal that echoes some influences from Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory, Gorguts and to some extent Nevermore.
The comparisons to SYL are inevitable and perfectly audible, partially due to their industrial and slightly mechanized approach to a technical and chaotic blend of thrash and death-metal sounds, and partially to the incredible vocal range of vocalist Sean Jenkins, who definitely possesses some vocal traits similar to Devin Townsend. It’s on tracks such as “Beg to Consume” and “Lay in the Bed You’ve Made” that those influences are really coming to the fore, with machine-gun beats furiously pummelling our eardrums along with a groove-heavy and technically fast riffing, and Jenkins alternating his vocal performance between rabid bellows and deep growls.
As the album progresses, it also becomes apparent that Divinity have a penchant for progressive-metal as the following songs straddle between brutal death-metal assaults like the Gorguts-influenced “Monsters are Real”, and more progressive-driven and exuberantly technical sounds like “Embrace the Uncertain”, where they sound like dudes who listened to Dream Theater way too much.
The production reeks of Pro-Tools, but that’s just minor quibble since Divinity are accomplished songwriters and musicians and have written a solid second full-length record that will surely please the needs of industrial and technical death-metal enthusiasts. (7/10)
Band info: www.divinity.ca
Label info: www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
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