Dark Divinity, Auckland NZ, 2020

Dark Divinity

31st July 2020
The Thirsty, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Cameron Miller. Photography by Mark Derricutt.

They didn’t have to be this good.

This was the first metal show I was privileged to see since the lockdown. I didn’t need a band of the calibre of Wellington melodic death outfit Dark Divinity, or their supports. I’d have been there with bells on for any group of malcontents to pound out a blast beat and yell into a microphone, no matter how sloppy. But we are blessed with a national scene that is anything but sloppy, and every single act last night proved it.

Instrumental post-metal duo Into Orbit were the only act I’d seen several times before. Each time I’d very much enjoyed their expansive compositions, ranging from walls of distortion to subtle melodies, grooves building to crescendos and then receding into a new riff or beat. I confess to feeling a little complacent going into their set last night, knowing what to expect and what I’d likely be writing after. Even familiar acts can surprise you though. I’m happy to say that while I’ve always been impressed with Into Orbit, this was the best performance I’d seen from them yet. It was very subtle what made the difference, as these were the same musicians and even mostly the same songs as before. But certain passages hit with ferocious energy, and ferocious is certainly not a term I expected to write about Into Orbit. Often I had experienced Into Orbit’s live show as a series of torch passes between Paul Stewart’s guitar and Ian Moir’s drums, one taking the lead while the other played support. Last night they almost seemed to compete with one another to build intensity and ratchet the tension, and when the climaxes hit, they felt like they were pushing each other to sustain the peak as long as possible. Long may they continue to surprise me.

Soul Void were up next, and while I will likely devote fewer words to their performance than others, that doesn’t correspond to a relative lack of enjoyment. Their immense appeal is just easy to grasp: they played old school death metal that was thick, heavy, gross, and fun. For a while throwback death metal was obsessed with aping the murky and evil style of Incantation. Which is fine, but Soul Void’s pulling of clear influence from gore splattered acts like Obituary or Autopsy is far closer to my heart. Give me a bit of groove, a few flashes of grimy doom riffs, transitions clearly and blatantly designed to get heads banging. Vocalist Josh has two styles, a deep gurgling growl and a raspy shriek, and really what more do you need. Soul Void’s set was short, sweet, and very satisfying.

First time seeing established noisemakers Graves, who were equally to the point. Delivering short and frenetic face-melters, they brought strains of hardcore, grind and punk to the stage that no-one else was dealing in that night. Music that’s this harsh, brief and uncompromising can be hard to pick nuance out of, but it’s there if you pay attention to just how tightly wound every snare hit or violent whiplash transition is. Plus vocalist Eddie Murphy performs with an air of barely contained violence that is memorable even from when I last saw him years ago with an entirely different band. Graves also had the most moments of crowd banter going on. “Play slower!” shouted one smart alec. “Not fucking likely mate.”

Dark Divinity were up, with a high bar to live up to from the preceding acts. I wasn’t doubting them, based not only on their recent debut EP, but on what I knew of the musicians: Stewart and Moir of Into Orbit filled double duty on drums and guitar, while vocalist Jolene Tempest I had seen several times with Wellington black/thrash act Bulletbelt. There were no disappointments this night. Melodic death metal isn’t my usual wheelhouse, but Dark Divinity seem to solidly grasp and deliver the classic elements – rapid high pitched riffs, interwoven guitar melodies between Stewart and fellow guitarist Reece Davies, shredding solos – with just enough edge and menace to pull me in. A lot of that edge is down to Tempest, whose vocals snap and snarl with vigour, biting off consonants and drawing out open vowels. Some of it though is down to the hints of black metal that creep in, with walls of tremolo and blast beats intruding occasionally like a cold wind. That violence was always then tempered with finesse, songs suddenly opening up into spacious grooves, harmony, and even melancholy. This made Dark Divinity easily the catchiest act of the night, combined with some truly infectious riffs, choruses and hooks. Apologies if this is misheard, but I believe Tempest screams on “Night of the Witches:” Violation of holy prophecy / Watch me revel in violent blasphemy which is the most fun metal lyric I’ve heard in some time.

There was certainly much revelry to be had in Thirsty Dog last night, with the crowd just as hyped and appreciative as I was. Each band got enthusiastic cheers and applause (not always a given at these occasionally surly underground gigs), sporadic and chaotic mosh pits broke out towards the end of the night. One fan was left shouting into the tail end of Dark Divinity’s closing distortion: “So good. So fucking good!” Indeed, friend. Indeed.

Were you there at The Thirsty for this brutal metal gig? Or have you seen Dark Divinity perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

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