Divine Empire – Method of Execution

Divine Empire started out as some ex-Malevolent Creation dudes figured they had still some kick ass Florida style Death Metal to impose onto the world. I still love ‘Redemption’ and ‘Doomed to inherit’, albums which both contained the well-known Florida Death Metal which never seems to expire. Somehow VM missed out on ‘Nostradamus’ but that album will surely kick ass too.

The first thing which draws attention when I looked at the promo of ‘Method of Execution’ was the amount of featured songs. Sixteen tunes which make up for a playing length of 58 plus minutes! So compared to the length of their previous albums one could say Divine Empire offer us a double album with ‘Method of Execution’.

Opening track ‘Vowed revenge’ showcases how the band sparsely yet effectively uses keyboards to enhance the song’s atmosphere without sounding like a sissy metal band. The heat is on pretty much from beginning to the end. Divine Empire operate like a sledge hammer banging on your head but though it aches like hell you don’t want it to stop. Songs like ‘Surgical strike’, ‘Dungeon mask’, ‘Random Beheadings’, ‘Judge, Jury & Executioner’ and ‘Murderous’ never let the pressure off from the blows to your head. Closing track ‘Reduced to ashes’ is an instrumental and exhibits a more relaxed rock vibe to which one could easily dance the boogey woogey.

Obviously, there are some personal highlights on this album. ‘The Mauler’ has a great meltdown to a doomy midpaced section which is spiced up with Nile-ish guitar lead work. There are a few classical themes used in ‘Prelude to the Storm’ and ‘Storm of Hatred’ which have an overall feel and some riffs that remind of the mighty Dissection. The track ‘Impervious deception’ is Divine Empire cracking on Black Metal and ravashing through all the freaking landscapes of entire fucking Scandinavia!

Furthermore, both ‘Terror zone’ and ‘Kill the king’ are so dead on with their riffing, which includes some touches of Black Metal, that I dare you to just sit tight during these killer tunes.

All of this is played as tight as the cunt of your fave neighbour. The production rips your head off and besides sounding brutal it even succeeds in making the bass guitar audible.

Things are definitely looking good for Divine Empire. Besides delivering this kick ass album they will support the classic Testament line-up on their European tour!