EDEN IN ASHES
What a letdown. Before Steve handed me this copy of
Eden In Ashes I had already heard of DIVINITY DESTROYED years ago when they opened for the MISFITS. I liked them back then, they had a very cool sound with the mixed clean vocals and growling. The guitar work was really good from what I remember as well. When I had first seem them I went to the merch table after their set and bought their demo CD. I listened to it for a few days before I forgot about it in the old CD pile. I had seen them open for the Misfits yet again just a few weeks ago and was disappointed, I don’t know what was different but they sounded bad, I thought it was maybe just a bad live mix since there seemed to be some microphone problems. Now that I listen to this CD though, I am thoroughly disappointed in this band.
Aside from every song sounding the same, Mark’s clean vocals sound strained at some points and the guitar work is not at all what I remember. The guitars are not horrible, there are some parts that sound pretty nifty, but there are other riffs that just sound awkward, like they couldn’t find a good timing for it or something and just threw some stray notes in there. The growling is just down right painful. I’ve said it a million times, there are bands that can get away with the deep growling vocals and many that can’t. This is an example of a band that should pass on it. The song writing isn’t horrible but there aren’t any hooks that would help you remember a particular song or distinguish it from the rest of the album. I wanted to give this CD a good review because I had liked them way back when, but all I end up with is another case of “What the hell was I thinking?”
Sorry guys, it’s just not working for you.
Take into consideration that this album was initially released in December of 2002. I’m listening to the
Screaming Ferret re-release nearly three years after it was originally released, so you would think that there would be some expected improvement, but to be honest, from what I saw/heard at their last live show I mentioned, it didn’t happen.
