From Australia comes a fresh new melodic progressive metal band with a fabulous debut album called As The Truth Appears, and I think it’s going to knock a lot of people off their feet. Divine Ascension have blended together elements of symphonic and progressive metal to make a superb cocktail of both styles, and at the same time created a unique sound of their own.

The songs on this album are simply thrilling. As I listened to each song I kept saying to myself “this song is probably going to be my favorite”, but the next song would be even better! The writing is impeccable with everything just fitting perfectly in place. There are plenty of chugging and staccato metal guitars carefully balanced with symphonic keyboards appearing exactly where they are needed, supporting the vocal melodies and greatly enhancing the atmosphere. The guitar parts are quite intricate and well played by Karl Szulik and Robb Inglis.

Jennifer Borg, the lady behind the fabulous vocals is absolutely impressive. She really knows when to pour on the power or pull back as the song demands. Her rich, lower tone adds a ton of sensation to the songs, and her higher range bolsters the more exciting passages. Finding a good vocalist is always the toughest part of putting a band together, finding one of this caliber who can handle this style of music is like winning the lottery. And she has a theatrical background as well! I know another Aussie femme metal band that’s been hung up for over a year trying to find a new singer.

The song “Answers” was the obvious choice for a single and video, with its more basic format and more anthemic sound, but the male/female duo vocals (featuring Vanishing Point frontman Silvio Massaro) could lead unfamiliar listeners to believe that the band has two permanent main vocalists, which isn’t the case. A great sounding song none the less.

“Vision Divine” has particularly deep, low guitars that gave me a feeling of trepidation, and the vocal melodies in the chorus are very stirring and powerful. This song, along with the next four, are all mind blowing in my opinion. These songs are truly packed with excitement. “Guided By Osiris” and “One Last Caress” are probably the most energetic songs on the album, both of them keeping up a pretty good pace that should keep any metal head happy.

The seventh and eighth songs slow things down a little, and Jennifer takes advantage of the more flowing melodies in “Another Battlefield” to show us just what range and power she is capable of. I was hoping that the following final two tracks would return to the high energy of the earlier tracks, but they didn’t quite get there. They are still quite good songs though. I thought that the song “Civilization” had a Queensryche style to it, and Jennifer’s vocals even had a very “Geoff Tate” sound to them when she soared to the higher notes. I actually really like this song. “Unscathed”, the final track sets a medium pace for most of the song, but builds up to be very exhilarating in the final section, leaving the listener wishing that Divine Ascension’s next album would be released tomorrow! More please!

All the songs on this album are absolutely captivating, taking you on a rollercoaster ride of slow and fast, heavy and soft, emotional and up lifting. Other better known bands in the femme metal genre better check their rear view mirrors, because this band is hot on their heels and switching into passing gear!

Websites:
http://www.facebook.com/divineascension
http://www.divine-ascension.com/
http://www.myspace.com/divineascensionband

Available through Nightmare Records:
http://nightmarerecords.com/

© 2011 John Davies (Sugar and Spikes Music)