DIVINITY - The Singularity CD Review

ARTIST: Divinity
TITLE: The Singularity
LABEL: Candlelight
YEAR: 2010
REVIEWED BY: Liz Anderson

OMG from just hearing this first track, I am already blown away. I didn't not expect this album to sound this good. The production is amazing and clear and the song writing ability is through the roof. It possesses just the right combination of Death metal brutality, industrial remix, Trashy riffs, and intensity. The album “The Singularity” is a record themed in the near future where; mankind had reached its peak of technological evolution. Humanity undergoes a massive change, with a sudden massive chance of pretty much every part of our existence. It cause is unsure between the rise of artificial intelligence, such as or a network-phenomenon side-effect of half a planet’s usage of high-bandwidth personal communication devices. "The Singularity" is like a post-modernist take on music biased on the moment beyond the present where no accurate predictions can possibly be made. Unfortunately this kick of raw power, aggression and shock value tends to slightly fade away in the last half of the album.

Whether any such thing could ever be relevant or even possible is for another time. But what can be said with greater certainty is that, since its creation by computer scientist and science fiction author Vernor Vinge, the concept has worked its way into mainstream culture, mutating from a philosophical and conceptual metaphor for unpredictable technological change into a more literal dystopian vision of a machine-dominated future that looks something like the flash-forwards in the sci-fi movies. "The Singularity "started off with my interest kind of spiked by the intro “Abiogenesis” which is a merge of dark industrial and robotic sounding drum intro to the song. I also thought this reflect the of the album’s subject very well. It’s that epic and modernized without a hint of that cheesy mainstream influence that has killed the music industry. This album is loaded with some really unique drum programming and processing; great thick tones; a stately pace and threatening atmosphere and some really hard hitting riffs. As “Beg to Consume” begins, however, it’s clear I’m not going to get quite what I thought.

This album is filled with some sick fast riffs that fill you up with a massive rush of adrenaline off “Abiogenesis”. All of the album's hard hitting beats and insane sweeps, thunderous roaring vocals and mind-blowing structure changes and breakdowns within the composition of the songs just make for one hell of a melodic death/thrash album. Through out the album, the band appears to be more extreme metal than industrial.

Track # 3 “Lay in the Bed You Made” brings in some sick shredding riffs with some intense vocals along with distorted singing on the verses. This all together makes the band sound a bit like Fear Factory, especially when they do there choral vocal thing. In track 2 “Beg to Consume”, you can better recognize the unconventional approach the band has taken in this song. As well, the influence of the good Mister Townsend seems to be present here.

The song "Emergent" takes the listener through an intense sci-fi journey out of this world, as does most of the album. This is great to listen to if you just live to have fun by doing some serious damage, and area fan of extreme metal, or even just respect it but not a huge fan. This album could even be the missing link between subgenre and the more mainstream meadows of contemporary metal.

TRACKLISTING:

01. Abiogenesis
02. Beg to Consume
03. Lay In the Bed You've Made
04. Emergent
05. Transformation
06. Monsters Are Real
07. Embrace the Uncertain
08. Formless Dimension
09. Approaching the Singularity