It's nice to hear some new technical Metal the way it used to be played: exploratory and ferocious, yet indebted to the straight forward "jeans, leather, and Jack Daniel's" riff rather than the insufferable "swept black bangs and straight edge" breakdown. With this basic template in mind, Calgary's DIVINITY have unleashed a molten eruption of heaviness on their sophomore full-length, "The Singularity".

Combining the oddball time signatures and hypnotic grooves of MESHUGGAH with the trailblazing Progressive tempo shifts of DEATH, the band top it all off with the wall-of-sound atmospherics of STRAPPING YOUNG LAD. As chaotic as those mixed ingredients may sound, DIVINITY manage to avoid the bloated indulgences of what passes for "technical" these days and instead turn back the clock to a time when albums such as "Destroy Erase Improve", "Symbolic", and "City" rocked your world. This seems largely due to a mature restraint on the part of dual shredders James Duncan and Sacha Laskow, born of a secure confidence in their songwriting and playing abilities. Their role is to serve the songs - not the other way around - and they know their place. Also responsible is vocalist Sean Jenkins, echoing the fiercest of Chuck Schuldiner and Devin Townsend (complemented by growling bassist Nick Foster and his best Chris Barnes impressions). Additionally, Jenkins sings some infectious clean passages that come along at seemingly just the right moments, reinforcing his performance with personality and sparing the listener from tedium. Overall, an apt modern comparison would be fellow Canucks INTO ETERNITY, although "The Singularity" eschews the sweeping, grandiose Power Metal influences and opts for a subtler approach to melody.

There is a significant drawback here: this owes less to any of DIVINITY's shortcomings, which are relatively few, and more to the times in which they've emerged. Put simply, "The Singularity" would have been a far more dazzling and breathtaking listen had it arrived ten years ago, before a whole new tidal wave of "scene music" rudely appropriated the Technical banner and gave birth to Deathcore. Considering this, there is reason to fear that DIVINITY's day in the sun may be due at a later date, after that scene's inevitable collapse (and you know it's coming). That would be a shame, because it really is a fine piece of work.