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Divinefire: Eye of the Storm
Divinefire - Eye of the Storm album new music review

Divinefire: Eye of the Storm

Melodic Heavy/Power Metal
3.0/5.0

Liljegren Records
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by Craig Hartranft,  03.14.2011

Divinefire band photoI'm confused. I thought Divinefire called it quits in 2008 with Farewell. Christian Liljegren checked out indefinitely for personal reasons. That's my best recollection from the PR material.

Now founder Jani Stefanovic (k,g) and vocalist Christian Liljegren (aka Christian Rivel, after his wife's name but before his divorce) return with their fifth album Eye of the Storm. They've also added German Pascual for, and I'm just spit-balling here, the dirty vocals. More about this in a few moments.

Forgetting the complications of history, Eye of the Storm finds Divinefire treading the same hallowed ground: heavier symphonic melodic power metal with Christian themes. Time fo Salvation, Bright Morning Star, and To Love and Forgive are witness (pardon the pun) of this direction.

What's perplexing is the dual vocals. What's the relationship between Liljegren and Pascual? I'm not really sure. Here and there, Divinefire acquiesces to modern trends with death/hardcore vocals. It sounds almost contrived. No, it is contrived and predictable. What was Stefanovic and Liljegren thinking? Oh yeah, I know: we have to be relevant and contemporary. Let's add dirty vocals. Cripes! It's the exact opposite: everybody and their mother in a heavy metal band is doing it these days, or didn't they notice that.. Thankfully, it's no that pervasive.

Thankfully, also, there's some classic Divinefire here. Witness the heavy power metal of Send Me Out. Listen for the epic choral vocal intro and aggressive power metal of Masters. But this song is also representative of the capitulation to dirty vocals; sort of melodic death metal on the lame side of Dimmu Borgir.

Yet, I cannot think of any relevant metal band with a Christian message, even though it's a little blurred at times, that you can actually understand. Without a lyric sheet, it's hard to determine Divinefire's orthodoxy. But give them accolades for the attempt to bear witness to their faith.

Without doubt, fans of Divinefire will welcome them back with Eye of the Storm, and it's good to have them back. Heavy, intense, melodic, and submitting to modern metal trends define this work. Leaving the unnecessary dirty/death vocals aside, Eye of the Storm could have been the signature Divinefire album. But it is what it is, and it's pretty good.




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In Short

Without doubt, fans of Divinefire will welcome them back with Eye of the Storm, and it's good to have them back. Heavy, intense, melodic, and submitting to modern metal trends define this work. Leaving the unnecessary dirty/death vocals aside, Eye of the Storm could have been the signature Divinefire album. But it is what it is, and it's pretty good.

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