Titan's Eve "The Divine Equal"
Summary: Titan’s Eve hits the ground running with Bay Area thrashing of excellent caliber, even though the bay they are from is much farther north than you might think. It doesn’t redefine thrash, but it is a big first imprint, and speaks of great things to come.
Genre: Thrash Metal
Expected Release Date: 2/1/2011
3 Stars
***
TITAN’S EVE is a quartet of thrashers from Vancouver, and they’ve been clamoring at the starter gates for several years now. As of February 1st, however, those gates will be open, and these apocalyptic horsemen will be galloping their guitars into the hearts of thrash fans everywhere. Combining the darkened melodicism of old school Bay Area thrash with some of the modern ferocity of European thrash, The Divine Equal is the start of something very, very good.
Flexing their atmospheric muscles on intro acoustic track “Mourning Star” (and later, the keyboard-heavy “Dusk”), the rest of the album is pretty much dedicated to straight-up thrash metal. “Judgement” sets off with a high speed chug, and proves that the band’s live energy is translated well to recording, but the album doesn’t truly open until “Becoming the Demon.” From that track on, it’s all about fierce riffing, harmonic swirls, and head-stomping breakdowns.
For the bulk of the album, the band sounds like they are straight out of the 80s Bay Area thrash scene. The vocals aren’t harsh and deathy, but neither are they clean and melodic; there are hints of both, and on “Becoming the Demon” in particular, it’s clear that the lead singer can do both well. But on some of the later tracks, particularly “Tides of Doom” and “Living Lifeless,” you’ll hear some rougher vocals in a more Swedish Thrash style. Combine this with the driving drums and you’ve got a sound that hangs almost perfectly between Overkill and older Soilwork, or some similar bastardization that is totally worth throwing up the devil horns too! \m/
If there’s a knock against the band, it’s that they don’t try hard enough to sound like their own thing. They are sooooo damn good at recalling various thrash moments of yore that they lose the defining edge that will make them stand out completely on their own. For instance, the solos never go too wild, and the drum fills are rarely then a momentary glance at the precision and style that lies within the band. Plain and simple, these guys are good and it shows, but they don’t show it off enough.
The Divine Equal is more than just a promising first disc: it’s worth buying if you like pretty much anything thrash-related. But you can tell that the next disc is going to be even better. All in all, that’s a good problem to have!
Track Listing:
- Mourning Star (Intro)
- Judgement
- Becoming the Demon
- Into the Fire
- Serpent Rising
- Tides of Doom
- Dusk (instrumental)
- Nightfall
- Living Lifeless
- Searching for Nothing
- The Divine Equal
***
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