Titans Eve, a currently independent metal band out of British Columbia, Canada, has a new album out entitled The Divine Equal. This energetic four-piece plays fist-pounding, head-banging modern thrash metal occasionally tinged with a sound that’ll drag you straight back to the California Bay Area metal scene of 1984. This is Titans Eve’s first full-length album, which is made up of the four songs from their first demo/EP, re-recorded, and a handful of new offerings to appease their fans’ appetites. Although from Canada, this band has obvious influences from the last two (or more) decades of modern German thrash metal. Forever-moving-onward double kicks drive the pace of the band while heavily distorted guitars fly between tremolo picked verses and heavy-metal breakdowns. The vocals – while are mildly melodic here and there, harkening back to that Eighties thrash sound – are mostly harsh yells reminiscent of German thrashers Dew-Scented and even At The Gates, at times.
The album opens with a ghostly introduction that reminds me of the beginning to Forbidden’s “Twisted Into Form.” A very creepy guitar line backed by a heavy atmosphere leads into a stoner-y Black Sabbath riff, and then finally into the first actual track, “Judgement.” The band immediately starts showing their chops at that point; revealing that the intro track was just a teaser or a warm-up, jumping into thrash-mode in the blink of an eye. This track shows what Titans Eve can do, and it has everything: beautiful harmonized guitar lines, thrashing lightning speed riffs, a nice break in the action and then, just when you think the ride is over, you’re hit with not one but two guitar solos that pack a ton of heart into just a few moments each.
Although this release feels very mature for a first album, it is still clear that Titan's Eve has included some of their earliest materials. “Into The Fire,” one of the tracks from their demo, is a mid-tempo piece that relies heavily on the lead guitar to make it interesting. Although it doesn’t fail in this attempt, it still can’t hide its fairly basic and boring structure – especially when they play this very elementary sounding section made mostly of chromatic power chords about two-thirds of the way into the song.
One of the demo songs that I feel really raises this album to the top notch is “Tides Of Doom.” This song just fucking rocks. Every transition is clean and makes perfect sense. They prove they know where they’re going and how they’re getting there. The song starts out with everyone pounding on their respective instruments in perfect harmony; angry yet with the finesse of a veteran thrash outfit. The first pummeling riffs give way to a double-picked pull-off riff from the lead guitar that jives beautifully with the first riff, making for a fantastic transition. Though I have a hard time deciphering a decent percentage of the lyrics on this album, one of my favorite lines is in this track making all the more angry. “We’ll burn this city to the ground!” The line melds so well with the feeling of the song, it really gets me going, practically head-banging in my seat, sitting here in my apartment.
Finishing off this album, I feel like Titans Eve are likely to go a long way. Being so early in their career – unsigned to any record label – and with a great album in their laps, Titans Eve have a great opportunity before them. If they take hold of that opportunity and surge forward to create a successor to this album, they will be a driving force in the metal community both in Canada and internationally for a long time to come.
Artist:
www.titanseve.com (coming soon)
www.myspace.com/titanseveofficial
www.facebook.com/pages/Titans-Eve
Downoad:
Titans Eve – "Tides Of Doom" – The Divine Equal
Album:
The Divine Equal is out now. Contact the band via their myspace page to get your copy.
