INFINITE & DIVINE – Ascendancy

This scribe was quite enamored with the debut album titled Silver Lining by the Swedish outfit Infinite & Divine that came out a couple of years ago, which ticked a lot of boxes for me. So naturally, I was hoping for more of the same and some classy, memorable symphonic-inspired hard rock/heavy metal with a melancholy aura to it that I could sink my teeth into. As it happens, the latest effort titled Ascendancy boasts a robust production and great musicianship but is ultimately an uneven piece of work in terms of quality and longevity.

Tezzi’s vocals are good and Jan Åkesson’s handling of guitars, bass, keyboards, and programming is certainly praiseworthy, but the disc contains less noteworthy tunes than its predecessor and oftentimes feels somewhat light and devoid of substance. Sure, many of the tracks are catchy but when one listens to them a third or fourth time it is as if they have outstayed their welcome and that there is nothing more to them. A proper sense of depth would have done wonders for this eleven-song output, and too much of the record is either mundane or unremarkable, which is a damn shame as I like their particular brand of melodic, big-sounding rock with symphonic leanings from a stylistic point of view. Some well-written compositions such as ‘Larp’, I Hold My Life’, ‘Down’, and ‘Parasites’ do appear and make for enjoyable company, but the frustrating fact is that you can skip this LP in favor of Silver Lining as it fails to stand out.