Divine Realm - Tectum Argenti

Divine Realm begun as a one-man band, the brainchild of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Leo Diensthuber, back in 2010 only to be fleshed out into a full band line-up by 2013 and following the release of some self-penned/performed material prior to that. An EP called “Abyssal Light” turned up in 2014 and two years later the band debuts their first full-length, entitled “Tectum Argenti”. Say… compared to a bloated Dream Theater, this takes away the vocals and almost all melodies and leaves you with just rhythms changing and a guide guitar that sounds like an annoying keyboard.
 
The band is inspired by bands like Pomegranate Tiger, Between The Buried And Me, The Human Abstract, and Animals As Leaders and seems to overestimate complexity over actual composition, going for simple yet technical, djenty sounds, programmed drums and unconventional structures. Along with a “weak” production and thin guitars and fake drums, this is not something I would bother too much with, but if you like this nerdy “tech” approach, go ahead; give em a try I find the overall style quite unimaginative. The sad thing is that during some parts on songs like “Glass Empire” some of the guitar passages are fluid and fusiony, when they don’t have to go micro riffing, so those show some promise, but I’d have to imagine them in a completely different premise and context really…