Affliction of the Divine

Novae Militiae is a quite new band from France. They were formed in 2009 and “Affliction of the Divine”, which was released in 2011, is their first release. Even before you start listening to the album, by the band’s logo and also the art work, you get into its dark and intensely occult – ritualistic atmosphere. That kind of atmosphere you will also find in the musical part of the album, certainly much stronger. So, the album contains five compositions, two of which are atmospheric, ritualistic, ambient tracks, of total duration of thirty three minutes. The music that Novae Militiae play is dark, with intense occult atmosphere, paranoid, disharmonic melodies and reminds a lot the French sound.

The pace in the tracks is medium with some fast parts, that even there the same dark feeling is maintained. The riffs don’t show much variety and they are based on the technique of the disharmonic melodies in order to create the atmosphere. The guitars are very good, they deliver the atmosphere and the feelings of the compositions to the listener, easily. The drums, in the slow parts, just fill the compositions, whereas in the fast they show their potential, with interesting lines and nice turnings. The bass, unfortunately, can’t be heard at all. The vocals are harsh, quite expressive Black Metal vocals.

The production is dirty, chaotic but the absence of the bass makes the compositions empty. Concerning the mix, the guitars sound loud but the drums sound louder, so that in some parts the drums cover the guitars. The vocals sound lower, think that fits to the tracks. The bass’ absence annoyed me as the compositions are almost empty. The lyrics, I think that they are written in English and although they are not included in the cd, they seem to have occult content.

“Affliction of the Divine” isn’t a bad album. It has a very good atmosphere and it passes strong emotions to the listener. If the production and the mix were better, the album would be good. However now it is moderate and I would suggest it only to those who are searching for ritualistic – occult sound. The rest of you, search for something else.