Artist: The Murder Of My Sweet  
   Title: Divanity
   Label: Frontiers Records

When the likes of songwriter and producer Daniel Flores, guitarist Daniel Palmqvist, bass player Johan Niemann and keyboardist Andreas Lindah come together you sit up and take notice.  The Murder Of My Sweet has been an on off project by Flores who was waiting for the right vocalist to complete his vision for the project and that final piece of the puzzle comes in the form of Angelica Rylin.

To say this album blew me away from the start is an understatement, the sheer power of Rylin’s vocals is just astounding and together with the superb musicianship of Flores, Palmqvist, Neimann and Lindah, they have put together a simply stunning album in 'Divanity'.

From the opening track ‘No Evil’ the album grabs you and takes you away on a musical journey that I haven’t felt since Nightwish’s ‘Once’, such is the power and grace of this album and Rylin will become as much a household name as Tarja.

The album is full of tremendous anthemic metal that just exceed anything I’ve heard in quite a while as the album continues to impress with ‘Follow The Rain’, the magnificent ‘Bleed Me Dry’ and one of my many favourites on the album, the gigantic overture that is ‘Chemical Attraction’.

Another of my favourite tracks on this superb album has to be the symphonic overtones of ‘Kiss Of Death’, a real tour de force vocal performance from Rylin’s really pushes the envelope on this one.  The band bring a little more metal to proceedings with rocking ‘One Bullet’, a real guitar grinder this one with the backbone rhythm section keeping everything in check.

We’re only half through this splendid opus and the album just keeps producing titanic track after titanic track, with more superb tracks to follow with the haunting ‘Tonight’, the majestic orchestration that is ‘Storms Of The Sea’ and the excellent ‘Destiny’.  All great tracks but the band really go all out for it with the closing tracks, the first of these being ‘Revolution’, a thunderous mix of choral backings with narrative parts introducing the piece before Rylin takes over and pushes the track to great heights.  Next up it's ‘Valerie’, a track that is as majestic as it is melody filled with some stunning keyboard work from Lindah and a fantastic drum beat from Flores as always.

Leaving the best to last and leaving them wanting more are usually left to live sets, but the band have done just that with this album as the simply stunning ‘Death Of A Movie Star’, a seven minute plus epic which dips and sways throughout, as the gentle piano and Rylin start the track before it builds into a massive ensemble of keys and vocals, interwoven with some stunning guitars and a massive orchestral background.  A great way to finish what is a stunning release and is a great way to start 2010 this is the bench mark album for all to follow.

 

Tracklisting:

01. No Evil
02. Follow The Rain
03. Bleed Me Dry
04. Chemical Attraction
05. Kiss Of Death
06. One Bullet
07. Tonight
08. Storms Of The Sea
09. Destiny
10. Revolution
11. Valerie
12. Death Of A Movie Star

 

                  

 

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