Divine Empire

Redemption (Olympic)
by Paul Lee

In its heyday, Floridian death metal was awe-inspiring and hugely influential. Unfortunately, for bands like Divine Empire (who are alums of Florida legends Malevolent Creation) there’s now a global abundance of death metal from places like Sweden, Poland, and Finland that tends to be more engaging than the old school sound. Most of the new Floridian stuff sounds antiquated (that is besides Morbid Angel, of course), and the young upstarts from overseas are taking over. Yet there’s something about Divine Empire that makes Redemption a respectable and enticing work of bestial metal.

Without a doubt, Divine Empire have all the requisite skills for nasty death metal: they’re fast and vicious, have loads of blast beats, crushing vocals, and skillful playing. They know their craft damn well and somehow keep Redemption interesting throughout. Although they don’t add any new pages to the death metal grimoire, their love of the genre comes through in their precise musical assault.

Though I tend to be drawn more toward European, melodically-inclined death metal, Divine Empire manage to engage me with their 34-minute attack on the senses. It seems that the golden age of Floridian brutality hasn’t been completely played out. Along with Deicide, Morbid Angel, and the new Malevolent Creation, Divine Empire may be one of the last remaining stalwarts keeping the flame alive in the suffocating swamps of the Sunshine State.
(2323 W. El Segundo Blvd. Hawthorne, CA 90250)