Niviane – The Ruthless Divine

Niviane
The Ruthless Divine
Pure Steel Records
October 30, 2020
01:02:15

Almost exactly three years after the debut “The Druid King”, the successor “The Ruthless Divine” by the US power metal band Niviane is now released. The debut could still be described as mixed, there were a few highlights but also some less good songs. Let’s see if that has improved on the second album.

Front belter Norman Skinner III still sounds like a mixture of Matt Barlow and Tim “Ripper” Owens but has added more melodic facets to his singing style. Most of the time the vocals are still quite aggressive, and he lets off a lot of high screams. The choruses are mostly sung very melodically. Unfortunately, the aggressive singing means that as a non-native speaker you don’t understand too much of the lyrics. Musically, Iced Earth also resonates with Manimal, i.e. riff-heavy US power metal of the old school. Ballads are (unfortunately) completely dispensed with, all songs are in the mid to up-tempo range and have a lot of great riffs, melodies and solos to offer. The refrains also invite you to roar along. Another characteristic is the length of the songs. Almost all of them exceed the 5-minute mark, but they are not lengthy or artificially elongated. Personally, as I said, I miss the ballads that give you a break or two, but that is of course a matter of taste.

It is not really worth highlighting individual songs, as they are all about the same level. There are still a few hits missing, but 11 tracks of consistently high quality is an achievement that cannot be taken for granted. The ruthless divine certainly doesn’t have to hide from the latest release from genre colleagues Thrust. Even if there is still some room for improvement despite all the existing quality.

Photo courtesy of Niviane

Niviane – Fires In The Sky: https://youtu.be/taRqevQTQYI

Lineup:

Rick Stallkamp – Bass
Mark Miner – Guitars
Norman Skinner III – Vocals
Gary Tarplee – Guitars
Aaron Robitsch – Keyboards
Noe Luna – Drums

Tracklist:

• League Of Shadows
• Crown Of Thorns
• Dreams Crash Down
• The Ruthless Divine
• Fires In The Sky
• Fallen From Elysium
• Forgotten Centurion
• Niviane
• Psychomanteum
• Sinking Ships
• Like Lions