Review Summary: A Taste Of Extreme Divinity follows the same path as Virus, except that this album is basically a mix between Virus and The Final Chapter and the fusion has been injected with steroids.
It started as a one-man project but it turned out to be one of Sweden's most respected melodic death metal bands. The workaholic front man and metal genius Peter Tagtgren and his band
Hypocrisy has certainly made their own mark on Swedish melodic death metal. Their ability to mix melodic elements with crushing but atmospheric death metal is one of a kind. But that's not all, there are numerous things that makes
Hypocrisy to the definitive melodic death metal band. It is basically everything to be honest, but in the end it all falls down one aspect, and that is the incredible versatility that the band has in the music. Their first albums was just plain old-school death metal but after ''The Fourth Dimension'' every album had their own unique style and sound. This is one reason why the band is so good. You never know what to expect when the band releases a new album. Is it going to sound like the
Abducted or will they go to back their roots as in
Obsculum Obscenum?. The thing is that
Hypocrisy is alive and kicking and there are no signs that the band will quit any time soon.
Sience working to crack the code
Bury the gateway, let it go
Don't let them through
Can not gamble with the human race
A Taste Of Extreme Divinity follows the same path as
Virus, except that this album is basically a mix between
Virus and
The Final Chapter and the fusion has been injected with steroids. This album is real goddamn heavy-weight champion compared to any other album that the band has made so far. Only
Virus and
The Final Chapter are the only albums that has the same type of power as this album has. Peter is still using his classic Hypocrisy ingredients such as catchy heavy and catchy riffs, melodic atmospheric keyboard effects, the famous background choirs and chanting, alien and apocalyptic themed lyrics and of course his superb vocal performance which is bestial monster growls and ear-piercing and throat-slitting screams. The content in this album is mixed perfectly, intense versus calm and atmospheric versus chaos. Every track has a unique structure with various sets of riffs, beats, lyrics and speed. The only possible down-sides with this album are that there are many tracks on it. Even if the music isn't that repetitive there is still a risk that the listener wants to take a break because of the overdose of music. In almost all
Hypocrisy albums you will find a slow kind ballad as last track, but not this time. This might come as a huge disappointment for the hardcore fans or those who enjoys the slower songs from this band. If there should be real end on a Hypocrisy album then it should be done with a slow overwhelming and apocalyptic ballad. But unfortunately there is no such song here this time.
You call yourself a god
I call you a liar
I'll take your crucifix and stab it straight through your heart
Any Hypocrisy fan out there will definitely drool over this album, any the reasons are many.
A Taste Of Extreme Divinity will take you back the finest days of the peak-era of
The Final Chapter and forth. It is still hard to imagine that one man can achieve so much work as Peter Tagtgren has done. He runs his on studio (The Abyss studio), he is a world-wide known producer, he has his second band
Pain and his crown jewel, which is the almighty
Hypocrisy. Peter actually had a heart failure due to all the hard work and was clinically dead, but even after that he is still making music like there was no tomorrow. Everything in this album is breathing with great enthusiasm and energy. This album will definitely go down as one of their best album alongside other masterpieces that the band has put out. People who aren't dedicated fans of this band but still enjoys melodic death metal should definitely check this out. And for all Hypocrisy fans, get this album as soon as you can because you will love it for a long time.
Pros
+ Splendid and absolutely outstanding vocal performance
+ Superb sound production
+ The guitar performance is filled with new and fresh riffing and soloing
+ Classic Hypocrisy lyrics such as aliens, doom and violence
Cons
-- Nothing actually, just trivial stuff
Recommended Tracks
-- For the fans, get the whole thing!
-- For newcomers, try ''Solar Empire'', ''Global Domination'' and ''Valley Of The Damned''.
Final rating will be a solid 4.5/5
