HIDEOUS DIVINITY- Unextinct

RELEASE YEAR: 2024

BAND URL: https://www.facebook.com/hideousdivinity/

Adveniens²⁰¹⁷ (Unique Leader Records), the Italian death metallers’ Hideous Divinity’s third album (after Obeisance Rising²⁰¹² and Cobra Verde²⁰¹⁴, both on Unique Leader Records) which I awarded a perfect score here, was universally acclaimed as their finest work. I had missed the subsequent Simulacrum²⁰¹⁹ (which brought a change of the label to Century Media Records), but snatched Unextinct²⁰²⁴, released on March 22nd (via Century Media) as soon as it appeared in my haulix, ending up reviewing it much later than I had initially anticipated – a good album but no match to either “Adveniens” or “Cobra Verde” in terms of both cohesiveness and catchiness.

One of the factors that no doubt influenced the evolution of Hideous Divinity over the years is the changing lineup, whereby, of the founding Enrico Schettino (guitars) and Carlos Mastantuono (vocals) only the former remains, while the phenomenal long standing drummer Giulio Galati was replaced by former Deceptionist and current Ade drummer Edoardo Di Santo after “Simulacrum”, to match Enrico “Hater” Di Lorenzo (2010-vocals) and Stefano Franceschini (2013-bass). Thus, while “Unextinct” does share some similarities with “Adveniens” (and likely “Simulacrum”) it is pretty much a different band. These days, Hideous Divinity is more of a progressive death metal act akin to Nile or Behemoth in the tendency to change things so much on a dime that, at times, one wishes they would just minimize things a tad like they did on the debut, for a greater impact. Hideous Divinity are fantastic musicians but they’re no Ulcerate in terms of consistently engaging songwriting and compelling structures, and, listening to this album, I get the feeling like they were trying too hard to emulate the New Zealander masters’ convoluted highly stratified (yet ever catchier at that!) symphonies.

Indeed, the only fantastic track, “Mysterium Tremendum” is comparatively short but very fast and brutal yet catchy, with periodic slow downs to make it seem even faster and more brutal than it really is, a leaner beast but all the better for it. “The Numinous One” (first song proper after the bombastic Misery Index-ing instrumental “Dust Settles On Humanity”), “Atto Quarto, The Horror Paradox” and especially “Leben Ohne Feuer” (Life Without Fire), (with its neoclassical melodic majestic guitars and where they prove that they have a knack for creating epic passages that are more convincing than similar tricks from Nile or Behemoth) are very good, where I love that these guys never get so brutal that they cease being catchy and where the sudden stops and turns and starts again actually serve to make the material more palpable if not bearable since the weight of the guitars threatens to be a bit much on the senses, but just when it is so evident it changes into that ambient tranquillity, if only for a moment, an equivalent of a bucket of cold water in the middle of the lake of fire, just enough to still feel the burn before you pass out from the heat, yet, it still gives off an impression as if they were deciding which weapon better to strike with, then peppered with little guitar tricks as if to say “we’re so good we get to fool around a bit and you will love it” (and I do, although the music’s definitely for the well-trained in receiving such sophisticated brutality), overall, long tracks but so much different things going on you don’t really care or sometimes even notice the length. Not so much the case with “Against The Sovereignty Of Mankind” or “Quasi-Sentient” where, on one hand, they appear to know when sustained barrage could tire out so they briefly change pace or throw in a moody passage as if to let you breathe a little but not too long as it does pick up howbeit without letting go of the melodic pedal, as Hideous Divinity seem to alternate between short and long tracks to keep you both sane and present for the pain, but, on the other hand, the structures just don’t quite deliver that same product, and, while the two tracks are relatively shorter, “More Than Many, Never One”, even sandwiched between the two instrumentals “Hair, Dirt, Mud” and “Der Verlorene Sohn” (The Prodigal Son), even with those background understated melodies while meanwhile guitars create another additional ones which they then turn into a solo, makes the listener very aware of the passing time. And keep in mind, too, this is a brutal death metal album clocking in at 51 minutes, something, again, not a problem for Ulcerate, Behemoth (Evangelion²⁰⁰⁹!) or even, occasionally Nile, but just not a good decision for Hideous Divinity in 2024. As one Polish commercial says, sometimes the best expression of the great taste is simplicity.