The Bitter Selfcaged Man

“Embodiment”, being a sort of “best of”, because contained their first two demos, cannot be considered their very first album. With this “The Bitter Selfcaged Man”, in my opinion, Divine Souls made their true debut in the music business. The label is always Scarlet Records.

Basically there aren’t too many differences between the songs in the demos and these ones; maybe these ones are a bit more melodic and the guitars are a bit less “Swedish”. Probably the production, very clear, has a bit reduced the group’s rawness. I must say that, anyway, I like this album. This is far better than most of the records nowadays in this genre.

The group is as usual, very good at playing their instruments and the form of the song is more direct, melodic and easy respect to the old ones. But the compositions are still very catchy and good.
A good example of what I said can be the song that opens this full length, When Life Slips Away, with a piano and clean voice, just whispered, at the beginning. The refrain is very good and the mix of melody with the screamed voice is still very original.

In my opinion the best song in this album is Simply Shattered, where sad, melodic, lead guitar lines are played on the main rhythmic riffs. The song's last part increases in the speed, especially the drums with his bass drum. In general, in most of the songs, the lead guitar lines are very melodic and quite slow to create a sad, nostalgic symphony.

Bleed song is the fastest in the album; the tempos grow in intensity and violence. This is the most “death metal” side of the group that, anyway, doesn’t forget the melodies in the guitars and some mid-paced riffs, especially during the central break where the vocals are a bit distorted and even more screamed. The solos are catchy and well done, even they’re not so fast.

As a trademark of the group, the lyrics are always about sadness and inner struggles, life experiences, sometimes very painful. Anyway this album is not so different from the demos in Embodiment, but surely better recorded, with a small loss of their death influences. Good one, recommended to every melodic death metal fan, but if you’re searching for speed music, this is not your album.

When Swedish melodic death metal is mentioned more than likely, Dark Tranquility and In Flames come to mind. Dark Tranquility is still doing what they do best with their newest release...In Flames however have gone downhill and are nowhere near leaders of the genre anymore, leaving a considerably large space to fill. Enter Divine Souls.

The Bitter Selfcaged Man is loaded with aggressive Swedish death metal and dynamic melodies with killer riffs and an awesome rhythm section. The guitar work is unquestionably first-rate, as well as remarkable solos. The lyrics resemble Senteced, dealing with misery, depression and suicide, making the album quite dark. The production, while not perfect, is certainly clear enough to make everything standout, and what it lacks also adds to the dark aspect of this release. The songs are somewhat catchy and easy to remember even after the first listen. There is a lot of variation between the songs, so nothing repeats itself, starts to sound the same, or anything like that. Quality song after song comes at you and demands you to headbang until the end. I can see this band making a very quick leap to the top of the melodic death genre, easily competing with Dark Tranquility and certainly In Flames. This album is that good. Overall any fan of Dark Tranquility and In Flames will absolutely love this. Hah! Forget In Flames, think Divine Souls. Now go buy this album.

Highly Recommended - 92%