Redemption

Divine Empire are easily most remembered as being the band that numerous ex-members of Malevolent Creation formed during their hiatus or permanent departure from the group. I was a little hesitant at first due to the drama surrounding "that lyric" written by Jason Blachowicz during his MC days, but there appears to be no additional examples of such belligerence and this band as far as I can see doesn't particularly intake in any such unacceptable use of slurs.

The short, pointless intro (I seriously wish bands that felt the need to do this gave something - anything of substance to these openers.) segues into "Hidden Hatred", which punches my ticket with the aggression of Thor's Hammer. Hyper-fast old school death metal with gutturals that will appeal to fans of Deicide and of course, Malevolent Creation. The guitars ebb and flow between riff, after riff, after riff. A micro-solo slams the track well and truly shut, and I am comfortable calling this song one of the best death metal openers that I am aware of.

Like many death metal albums cut from this cloth, the material is very meat-and-potatoes, but the band have more than enough tricks in their bags to mix it up well enough (as explored later in the review). Unfortunately, there are times when the band utilise further genre tropes that they frankly could have done with avoiding. Samples used in songs are more than welcome when done sparingly and correctly, but the intro to "Silent Carnage" is so cheesy that I found myself actually wincing, which is never a good thing. It just felt like throwing something random for the sake of us being able to hear the violence and profanity as a clean, coherent plot device. I can't identify the sample, but it just annoys me deeply and I'd be tempted to edit it out of the song and listen to that version. As I have picked this up on CD though, I'm stuck with "skip or put up with".

One thing I need to further discuss is the excellent production. It's rare to hear the instruments all popping in and out at the correct times to promote their duties, but when there's a drum fill, it's given extra oomph to stand out a mile away as per("Induced Expulsion. I know that this is the general idea of correct music engineering, but it fails to surprise me to this very day how many people don't get it one hundred per cent correct - or just don't mix the songs to their own unique merits and USPs.

Derek Roddy's drum work is an absolute pleasure to listen to, being super pronounced and deep, amplified even more with a good set of Headphones. Jon Soar's guitar work is also top notch and his is a name that should be mentioned a lot more when discussing these things on various YouTube channels dedicated to death metal.

As for Blachowicz? I may have made my point at the beginning but I cannot deny that he is a talented vocalist and bassist. His gutturals on this release are memorable and stand right up there with the previously mentioned work from Glen Benton's Deicide.

There is a level of dynamicity that the experience of the members can draw from to prevent any stagnancy from occurring. The band may use blast beats a lot, but they don't rely on them to enforce the vision of brutality that they are so hellbent on delivering. The bass licks that occur on "Witness to Terror" are utilised to great effect, as they kick in just before all hell breaks loose with the frenetic vocal chaos and guitar solo - further imagining a scene of utter, utter dereliction.

The Summary

Divine Empire's first album continues where Malevolent Creation left off after the divide. One could argue that this album is better than a good chunk of MC's catalogue, and if given the same name would rank highly in the overall discography. I feel that the group didn't reach the same level of renown that they could have been afforded, and perhaps if a few bad decisions weren't made that the project would be a little higher on the pedestal of 90s death metal. There is very little wrong with this album, and if that stupid intro and sample were removed, I'd have this down as a very, very strong must-have.

As it stands, this is a great album for all death metal fans to listen to, and I'd go as far as to recommend it to newcomers to the genre.

Sell me this Album

No chance, I'm keeping my copy. Seriously though:

- Hidden Hatred: After the fuckery that is the thirty seconds of nothing, this is a great statement of intent with a couple of frantic micro-solos.
- Witness to Terror: Just listen to the breakdown and chaos that ensues. It's death metal's "Black Spell of Destruction"
- Induced Expulsion: The instruments come together in sweet harmony, with a drum sound and fills that are simply blissful to experience.

Considering Divine Empire were spawned from members of Malevolent Creation in the late '90s, the band hearkens back to the earlier times of the death metal genre. I like to think of them as Deicide-lite, however. Their debut record Redemption bounces this back brighter than any of the band's other three albums. It gets its chops in a timely manner, uses solid buzz-type riffing, and stays true to the earliest production values. To add to that, you'll even find your helping of double-tracked vocals, adding extra oomph to the brutality element.

For the most part, you can expect endless amounts of speed riffing and harder punches. The title track echos a wall of sound from that, extracting groovy riffage from the core and making it one of the best songs. You can also find the overall attitude from "Hidden Hatred" right out of the gate, as it blasts away with tight execution. "Witness To Terror" is similar in the way it breaks some of this down, allowing strong bass presence to touch the atmosphere before hitting its peak hoarseness.

Those slower breaks make Redemption more digestible, as the entire aesthetic here is rather one-sided and was prone to going stagnant. Some of this is taken to full tracks, like "Induced Expulsion." This tune slowly burns away every bit of oxygen in a terror-drenched manner that I can't get enough of. To the opposite end, you can find songs that rest their speed and energy strictly on the drums. "Silent Carnage" is a furious fume that drenches everything with extreme kit kicks , while still managing to drop in a steadier break.

Divine Empire may have just re-treaded ground that had already been laid, but consider the time period and where death metal was starting to go. This was one of the bands that kept it straightforward (for this record, at least) and dropped a hefty amount of single-sided kicks. Leaving it brief and raw was the key to its success.

Divine Empire was formed as a splinter project of Malevolent Creation, by three of that band's 90s acquisitions that inevitably grew apart from Phil Fasciana's vision. Jason Blachowicz, John Paul Soars and percussion god Derek Roddy had cut their teeth together on the 1997 album In Cold Blood, and decided that their cooperative jamming cohesion should spin off unto its own entity. Now, from a sheer stylistic perspective, there is not a lot of difference between this album and a number of Malevolent Creation works like The Ten Commandments, Redemption, and Eternal, but the sound is even closer to the infamous Deicide, to the point that they're almost indistinguishable. Roddy's strength is reminiscent of Asheim, and the band even goes so far as to incorporate the mixed snarl and guttural vocals, though rarely in tandem...

Granted, Redemption is better produced than any of the four Deicide full lengths before it, and there are minute variations in how Soars approaches his riffing than the Hoffmans, but it's a bit difficult to imagine that the interest this band buzzed up was not directly related to such a stark similarity (and the association with Malevolent Creation). Nonetheless, Divine Empire were able to launch themselves onto a number of successful tours at the turn of the century, and if anything, Redemption makes apparent that the hungry trio had many of the necessary tools to make a name for themselves in an already over saturated genre. The debut starts off with its strongest individual track, "Hidden Hatred", noted for the writhing cysts of speed wrought below the verse, which hint at appreciable malice. Then again, I could live without the hyper grooving mosh sequence, but its brief enough before the band surges once again into a taut velocity.

After this, the album is somewhat of a mixed bag, suffering the same setbacks as a Serpents of the Light, In Cold Blood, or Stillborn: dull and predictable patterns. Here, such are given some strength through the presence of the living tempest Roddy, the sharp and snagging explosions of lead guitar, and the professional punctuality of the studio delivery. But I will be damned if I can remember anything more than 2-3 riffs off the album: the aforementioned in "Hidden Hatred", the brute thrash sequence embedded in "Criminal Instinct", and the Pestilence-inspired intro to closer "Pray for Deliverance". The remainder of the tunes, despite the obvious competence in their application, seem rather effortless in their composition, more of muscle than creativity. If you're completely in heat for the sounds of Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Diabolic, Malevolent Creation, Naphobia and so forth, then you'd hardly find this debut offensive, but for my ears, its too long on punishment, not short on shrift. Pedestrian this isn't, but to be honest, the cover is a lot more evil than the majority of the music.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This is an album which has really received about a tenth as much attention as it deserves; it's a superb death/thrash release that's been unfortunately relegated to the status of 'that band Derek Roddy was in before Hate Eternal'. This is a terrible oversight on the part of the metal scene at large, because about thirty seconds of 'Redemption' will display that this is one of the most bloodthirsty and savage death/thrash releases ever made, and only a bare handful of bands can match this in absolute intensity. It's truly a forgotten classic in the death metal pantheon.

It's easy to think of death/thrash as an interim thing alone; a necessarily less brutal form of death metal that never quite makes the leap. Divine Empire instead uses the thrash to make their breed of death metal much more brutal than most 'true' death metal bands, combining the ultra-rhythmic delivery of thrash with the pounding intensity of death metal to craft an album which absolutely refuses to let up. The short, violent songs which take up most of the album are essentially nonstop barrages of ultra-aggressive, razor sharp power chord riffing and some ridiculously hammering drums courtesy of a younger, more interesting Derek Roddy, backed up by a suitably roaring, throat-crushing vocal performance. The riffs could be described as a mixture of Slayer, Deicide, and Suffocation, generally operating at very high speed, with a dark and predatory sense of melody running as an undercurrent beneath the sheer brutality of the aesthetic.

There's an insidious catchiness to the music where it allows itself to become more primitive; 'Witness To Terror' is a prime example with its ridiculously simple yet blindingly fast main riff working its way into your head over and over throughout the day you hear it. Everything about this album seems to scream 'no compromise': it was composed with the intention of being the most brutal music it possibly could, and it essentially succeeds fully. The unrestrained yet minimal nature of these songs gives the album an almost black metal vibe at time, though the music is strictly within the death/thrash mold. This is not intricate in the sense of more technical death/thrash groups or as good-time as other thrash-influenced bands (thank god); instead, this is a more hard-bitten and harsh form of the style for those who thought that the inclusion of thrash never had to mean compromise.

This isn't friendly or accessible music: it's cruel and unforgiving death/thrash for those who like their metal brutal and extreme. It's for this reason that Divine Empire is so notable on this album: there's absolutely no willingness to slow down or be gentle even for a moment. This is death/thrash for grind fans, and absolutely essential for that reason alone.

Divine Empire is a death metal project in which we can find few members from the mid-era Malevolent Creation. As you can see, we have Derek Roddy at the drums and this makes me glad, since I consider this drummer one of the most talented in this music. The album here, Redemption, is the first effort for this band and it inevitably shows a quite evident Malevolent Creation style but this is not bad. The influences came out naturally from the members and this is normal after having worked with such a famous act. However, what I really like about this album, music apart, is the length and the sense of simplicity the music is able to transmit. Forget about too technical or complex parts because here it’s all about speed and brutality.

Eleven tracks for half an hour of music are sufficient for breaking a concrete wall with that tsunami death metal wave. The intro is just there to let the curiosity grow, being a small, obscure starter. Soon the first riffs of “Hidden Hatred” enter and the blast beats follow. The precision is how can we say…? Murderous…? Yes! The vocals are nasty and sometimes they switch from growl to scream. The band plays dynamic and intelligent, filling the parts with more death/grind oriented influences and riffs, without forgetting the thrash metal and some more mid-paced sections to give a break. “Hidden Hatred” has a really furious and nasty riffage on tremolo as the vocals reach unbelievable peaks of brutality.

The bass is pulsing, especially during the mid-paced sections as the bass drums add brutality and bind the parts together. To confirm this, listen to the heavily thrash influenced “Witness to Terror”. The drums work is astounding, clear-cut and the vocals fill every single part, especially if we take the mid-paced ones. The title track is a bit different just because the blast beats are not present and the general tempo is calmer, but just a bit. “Silent Carnage” is again massively fast and brutal, like also “Born of Sin” and the thrash metal oriented “Criminal Instinct”. A track like “Inducted Expulsion” points more on the darker, doomy sections to feature few restarts, but the general atmosphere is far darker.

“Draped in Black” displays again thrash metal influences concerning the riffs and the way the drummer plays the up tempo. The vocals are always brutal and we can always find the blast beats sections. To mark the return of the darker passages, we find the last “Pray for Deliverance”. The blast beats clash well with the mid-paced fragment by the end, to finish with distorted noises.
Well, all things considered, I liked this album. It’s not a masterpiece but it’s a good death metal work. Maybe few parts lack of originality and the riffs tend to be quite similar in few fractions but the brutal charge of this band is remarkable and also the way they play gives you the idea of simplicity and good technique at the same time.

Divine Empire play death metal in the vein of old floridia death metal. More thrash oriented than "brutal" death metal, with high focus on killer riffs and a headbanging rhythm.

This band has a lot in common with Malevolent Creation (the bassist and guitarist were both in MC at one point), Monstrosity, and other thrashy-death metal acts that were big in the Florida scene.

Their debut CD, "Redemption", is everything a normal death metal fan could want. Awesome riffs, a good mix of blast beats and thrashy drumming, and killer vocals. Just listen to that breakdown in "Out for Blood" at 1:07, total fucking thrash-inspired death metal! There is also a great solo in "Witness To Terror" at 2:15. "Criminal Instinct" has some great riffs mixed in with cool breaks, while "Draped in Black" opens with a killer thrashy guitar solo.

The best song, though, is "Induced Expulsion", which starts off slow and works itself up into a frenzy, at which point, J.P. Soars decides to skullfuck you with a sharp, fast riff. Then it slows down again, then speeds up, then slows down... then, well, you get the point. It all comes together about 3:00 into it with a killer "I will stomp your nuts into a creamy substance similar to peanut butter" doomy riff, followed by a killer galloping riff, followed by a cool little drum solo. Three excellent parts in a row, awesome!

One of the best things about Divine Empire is the fact that they have two great voices. One standard death metal vocalist, and one higher pitched vocalist (or, alternatively, they sound very similar when they both use standard DM vocals). Sometimes they switch off, or "duel", so to say, in songs, and it sounds fucking amazing. A good example of this is at the end of "Witness to Terror", where they trade of screams.

Lyrically, they seem to focus on murder, with "Hidden Hatred" about slicing someones throat and watching them die. "Witness to Terror" about Ted Bundy. "Silence Carnage" about stalking, and killing a victim.

Some other lyrical issues include criminals (and why they piss the band off, apparently) {Criminal Instinct}, soldiers bred to kill {Redemption}, and other fun topics.

Anyone who likes standard death metal will enjoy this album, and should definitely check it out. Divine Empire can (and should) be the next big name in death metal.

In accordance with the proposed rating system, this album gets a 75, but keep in mind that 75% is very good based on a 100% scale not bent by the school grading system.