If the forces of god and satan were to do battle, and used the bands loyal to them for the frontline assault, there's no denying that the holy rock n' rollers would be routed, destroyed and then eaten alive or some similar nasty shit. Sure, with those spiritual-only music channels floating about, the numbers are probably on the lord's side, but most of these guys are bound to be fair-weather worshippers, apt to flee at the first signs of the pagan horde. Not saying that the satanic bunch wouldn't have a few posers in their midst as well, but the bulk of them are likely to be old hands at troublemaking, with ingenuity and creativity on their side.

Now, if I were the almighty, I'd keep players like Neal Morse, King's X , Believer, Tourniquet and Extol for the decisive tactical attacks. Divinefire, on the other hand, would serve more of a berserker role; doubtful that they could deliver in a crunch situation, but it might be useful just to let them loose and see what kind of damage they could cause.

There's not much to differentiate Divinefire from all the other generic power metal bands out there, except that they're perpetually singing praises. Unlike certain other bands , they don't tweak the formula to see how much they can do with their sound, they just ride it faster and faster till it keels over halfway to the finish line. On first listen, this doesn't sound too bad at all; the leads in particular are suitably impressive razor-sharp shredfests. With subsequent spins, you find yourself waiting for the leads to come around and save you from the catatonic state that the rest of the song has caused. In fact, if they took just the leads from this album and stuffed them into a 2 minute something compilation, that'd be cool.

As it stands, Divinefire have their work cut out for them if they want to rise any further in the holy army. Being cannon fodder is no fun. Though if the album name is any indication, this is probably their swansong. Well, I guess they're consistent with their subtlety, anyway.

Year of release: 2008

Label: Rivel Records