Unblessed Divine is about to unleash its fury.
Formed in 2020 between Poland and South Africa by Lee Wollenschlaeger (guitar/vocals, Imperial Empire, ex-Malevolent Creation) and Michal Grall (guitar/keyboards, The Black Disorder, ex-Sinister), joined today by Simon (drums, Riese, ex-Angrrsth), the band signed to Massacre Records in 2023 for the release of Portal To Darkness, their debut album.
Drums were recorded by the band’s previous drummer, Michal M. Lysejko (Dieth, Pagan Forest, ex-Decapitated).
With opening track Book Of Lies, the band immediately asserts its heaviness with powerful riffs, joined by aggressive vocal parts. A few ghostly voices in the background also join in the wave of fury, which eventually dies down with modern tones to let Replace The Light’s jerky, crushing rhythm trample us underfoot. Distressing keyboards add a real dark touch to the frenzied charge and its cutting harmonics, as on The Dark Supremacy, where heavy choirs strengthen the surge’s heavier elements. Leads’ screaming tones contrast with the rhythm section’s massive approach and screams, while Blacken The Soul allows itself a few more airy parts and majestic patterns before integrating clean vocals and soaring keyboards, leading us to the final wave of unleashed power. The band ventures into dissonance with God Of Darkness, which takes on Black Metal influences to give its riffs a more raw edge, while occasionally allowing more melancholic melodies to join the storm. The break may come as a surprise, but it’s in keeping with the band’s logic, which continues its contrast between modernity and Old School rhythms with The Exalted One and its regular strikes that maintain an aggressive dynamic, whatever the speed. Keyboards give us a chance to breathe once more before the march continues, followed by I Feed, which remains anchored in this heavy mix of lively acceleration infused with icy Industrial touches. The Glorious Flames closes the album with a more subdued, sometimes even throbbing approach to its rage, even letting clean voice reign over the center of the track, before placing heady leads and vocal samples with us right up to the last moment.
Unblessed Divine let their Death Metal roots express themselves on Portal To Darkness, but the band don’t hesitate to integrate more modern elements infused with icy Industrial at times, making their satanic fury unique and interesting.
80/100