Divinefire - Farewell

Published June 01 2008

*=Staff's pick	Calling The World Unity You'll Never Walk Away* Pass The Flame Grow And Follow* My Roots Are Strong In You* King Of Kings Steal Me Farewell

Genre	Power Metal	Christian Liljegren	Vocals
Tracks	9	Jani Stefanovic	Guitar
Runningtime	44 Min.	Carl Johan Grimmark	Guitar
Label	CM Sweden	Andreas Olsson	Bass
Release	20 June 2008	Jani Stefanovic	Drums
Country	Sweden	Jani Stefanovic	Keyboard
Similar artists	Narnia, Children of Bodom

Divinefire was meant to be a limited side project for Christian Rivel/Liljegren and Jani Stefanovic. Now it has come to an end with this forth album, logically named Farewell. It is sad, because I still think that there is a lot more potential in the sound of Divinefire, if the main men just took the proper time to really work on some details. As it has been it feels like they have thrown out a Divinefire-record every now and then in between a lot of other projects and that the overall quality had suffered a bit.

I have waited for the project to 'take off', which has never really happened. Not that any of the three previous records have been less than good, but again, the potential feels greater. If one should try to summon the discography it started with great songs and bad production and went on to better production and less immediate songs.

I have had a few objections to the band in the past and they still stand at large with Farewell. 1) I think the 'symphonic' arrangements are a bit flat and shallow. Of course electronic sounds can never replace live music, and especially not when it comes to classical arrangements. 2) The choruses are a bit simple and lack the extra hooks that stick to your ears. There is one brilliant exception from that on this record, Grow And Follow, with its classical chorus with direct impact.

3) Liljegren's clean vocals could be more aggressive and forceful - I know he does it live! Therefore the occasional growling vocals by Hubertus Liljegren (yes, Christian's brother and formerly of Crimson Moonlight) enhance the whole experience, as in Unity and You'll Never Walk Away. But with that also follows the feeling that for example Pass The Flame would do good as well with a little growling. The mix of vocals works at its absolute best in before mentioned Grow And Follow.

Another favourite track is the melodic My Roots Are Strong In You, which breaks nicely from the furious previous track with its almost mid-tempo pace. Concluding Steal Me is with its over twelve minutes duration a progressive monster with no predecessor in Divinfire's career. But there are too many eggs in that basket. This bold composition does not keep up the momentum till the end.

So Divinefire says Farewell with another great record, if not the best. But as with all the previous, I still wonder if the next one could have been 'the one'?

See also review of: Glory Thy Name , Into A New Dimension

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
6	8	5	6	6

Summary
6 chalices of 10 - David