Divinity
Allegory

January 2009
Released: 2008, Nuclear Blast Records
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Waspman

Melodic death metal, despite being one of the most over-played and arguably out-dated metal genres is still alive and well. Every year it seems a handful of new bands appear to showcase their take on the Gothenburg-derived sound. This year, Canada’s Divinity takes their first full-length shot, on Nuclear Blast no less, after releasing only one prior independent E.P.

There seems to be two ways to make a stale genre interesting again; either play with such obvious conviction that the listener can’t help but be swept up in the music, or add new elements to the existing template to change things up. Divinity has definitely gone with the latter method on ALLEGORY. From the abrupt riff changes that occur only 20 seconds into album opener “Induce”, it’s clear that this is not going to be a smooth ride. Divinity’s music may have a base in melo-death, but they liberally add elements of thrash, prog-metal, and old-school death metal to spice things up. At times, especially on “The Unending”, they sound like an imitation of fellow Canadians Into Eternity.

Even though Divinity do their best to stand out from the crowd, it’s a dubious honour at best because they have not yet mastered combining all the different elements into a cohesive whole. Each song sounds like 5 mini-songs strung together without a lot of thought into how each riff flows into the next. I mean, there’s no doubt that these guys are talented musicians but as writers they still leave a lot to be desired.

ALLEGORY shows great potential for these Calgary boys (Go Flames!) but is just too disjointed to make for an enjoyable listen. Keep an ear out though – if they can tighten up the song writing, Divinity could be ass-kickers in the near future.