Pale Divine - Consequence of Time
Cruz Del Sur Music
Heavy/Doom Metal
8 songs (42' 43")
Release year: 2020
Cruz Del Sur Music
Reviewed by Andy
Album of the month

Pale Divine has been a power trio for its entire existence up till now, producing wah-wah heavy classic doom of the Trouble and Pentagram mold since the mid-90s. This year, with the release of Consequence of Time, they tweaked the sound, adding a second guitarist/vocalist with a higher voice, which results in a combination of the 70s doom vibe the band always rocked with a two-guitar attack and idiosyncratic vocals reminiscent of an Arthur Rizk project.

The album starts out with the band's familiar sound, though with the addition of organ accents that I don't believe showed up before; Greg Diener does the vocals in Tyrants & Pawn with his trademark world-weary baritone, while the rhythmic yet complex rhythm riffing is matched by his squawking wah-wah pedal, straight out of the 70s. The first indication that this is a different style is when we hear his vocal partner; Dana Orrt's vocals on Satan in Starlight are a high tenor prone to flying up to a falsetto. Even when doing duets with Diener, the effect of having this new guitarist/vocalist on the sound is clear. It's still doomy but faster-moving, more Manilla Road than Place of Skulls. Broken Martyr, one of my favorites on this album, is a good example of the increased range the guitar and vocal harmonizing these two can put together.

On top of the greater flexibility shown here comes a fey spookiness that was absent from the band before, the type you'd hear on Trouble albums, or maybe some of the old-school Italian doom metal outfits like Black Hole. Two tracks are in three-quarter time and thus feel like a demented waltz, a dance of the dead. About three quarters of the immense title track is classic Pale Divine, but then on a sped-up tempo section of the kind done on previous albums, Orrt's higher voice takes over at a point where Diener would have let the guitar do the talking (it gets in plenty of words edgewise anyway, since the wah-wah soloing here pulls out all the stops). In addition to these innovations, there's also No Escape, another standout, consisting of a very British-sounding NWOBHM track with a fast tempo that is again completely outside the box I'd mentally put this band into, and which had me searching the Internet to see if they're covering someone else (the answer is: Not as far as I can tell). It is also another 70s-style shredfest, slowing way down in the middle to let the listener luxuriate in it in the same way the recent Cirith Ungol album I reviewed here a couple weeks ago does.

I'm trying to be objective here and not go into full fanboy mode (a hard task, with this album blasting away on repeat on my headphones as I speak), but I have to say that I really like where they've gone with Consequence of Time. It's original, yet full of moments I normally associate with classic albums of the past, the kind where you hear the riff and are already nodding your head and thinking, "Wow, they just nailed it there didn't they?" Pale Divine has nailed it with a vengeance, and have surpassed just about anything they've done before. If you like doom/heavy metal crossovers...grab this one.

Bandcamp: https://paledivine1.bandcamp.com/album/consequence-of-time.

Killing Songs :
All of them are killer except for the short and less innovative Shadow's Own
Andy quoted 93 / 100
Other albums by Pale Divine that we have reviewed:
Pale Divine - Cemetery Earth reviewed by Andy and quoted 90 / 100
Pale Divine - Painted Windows Black reviewed by Alex and quoted 90 / 100
Pale Divine - Eternity Revealed reviewed by Alex and quoted 82 / 100
1 readers voted
Average:
 98
Your quote was: 98.
Change your vote

There are 0 replies to this review. Last one on Tue Jun 09, 2020 5:42 am
View and Post comments