Album Review: Divine Chaos - The Way To Oblivion
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
Sometimes the best things come to those who wait. Formed in 2006, Divine Chaos can’t be labelled prolific with ‘The Way to Oblivion’ only their second long player and their first since 2014’s ‘A New Dawn In the Age of War’. What they lack in quantity, they more than make up for in quality because ‘The Way of Oblivion’ is a bursting at the seams body bag crammed full of explosive riffs, brutal hooks and formidable, battering melodic death/thrash goodness.
If you want to know how to start an album, then grab a listen to ‘Suicide Salvation’. Visceral savage riffing, powerhouse drumming (would you expect anything else from James Stewart?) and the guttural roars of Jut Tabor, with an Annihilator style chorus, this is in your face muscular thrashing. A brave move to open the album with the longest track. Perhaps, but this is no progressive weave, it’s primal, energetic and sets the tone for the rest of the album, hooking the listener early.
Of course, if you’ve seen these guys in the live arena, such as their ballistic Sophie Stage set at 2019’s Bloodstock Open Air, you’ll know exactly what an arsenal Divine Chaos pack. Throughout ‘The Way To Oblivion’ the duel chainsaw chugging of guitarists Chris O’Toole and Matt Gilmour is constantly embellished by some slashing solo work, with Stewart’s precision drumming locking tightly with the pulsing bass of Craig Daws. It’s tight, powerful, and relentless.
Whilst Divine Oblivion focus their energies on an aural assault of the extreme kind, their music provides variation alongside the high-octane tempo. The muscular stomping rage of ‘Serpent Words’, for example, is laced with an underlying melody and contrasts with the short sharp blistering assault of ‘Murder For Sale’. The title track has a little extra too, with a searing solo provided by Sylosis main man Josh Middleton.
Plenty of groove for those who like their extreme laced with a touch of power and bounce, such as the penultimate ‘Angel of Misery’, a track that is as addictive as it is intense, thick riffing and super speed double kicks, and more excellent guitar work. This is an album that is both immediate and a ‘grower’. Immediate enough to grab your face and your full attention but with sufficient depth to enjoy on repeated plays. Mixed and mastered by Scott Atkins at Grindstone Studios, there is simply one sentence to end this review. Divine Chaos have dropped one of the most impressive releases of 2020.
