DIRENOTES

More then likely, people will draw more then a few comparisons to older Opeth albums when listening to Luna\’s Call, at least when it comes to this album, and that isn\’t too surprising as Opeth has been massively influential – the gap left from their stylistic change was one that needed to be filled. The real question is: which band deserves to fulfill that role. Would I say it\’s Luna\’s Call? Admittedly, no. But that isn\’t to say that Divinity is entirely bad.

You see, for every Opeth-ism present here, Luna\’s Call at least does it right, or outright corrects it\’s less . You are going to get the soft to death vocal combinations, the softer vocals almost always layered, the clean guitar sections with both acoustic and clean electric guitars, melancholy lyrics, (possibly synth?) orchestral sounds, keyboard stuff – its all very standard progressive metal fare. But, where other bands have padded their songs with obnoxiously long instrumental sections (seriously, there was a point where entire albums 2-3 tracks, or entire songs on their own), Luna\’s Call knows when to trim the fat and keep things moving. Even longer tracks, some reaching upwards of 9 minutes, aren\’t boring despite being somewhat predictable – cleaner instrumental sections almost always are followed by heavy death-esque sections, vise versa, etc. Divinity is, if anything, crafted well.

Sadly, the band seems intent on shunning the more original elements here. Vocals are mostly excellent, especially the harsher sections, as they do not sound at all like something out of Opeth. It\’s a seriously harrowing performance, one that I enjoyed ever second of. On the other side of the coin… The clean vocals are almost complete rip-offs of, you guessed it, Opeth. There really is just nothing so different as to say its not a clone of something on a Opeth album. Hell, even the AM Radio/Phone sounding vocal effects can be heard on songs such as \’Screaming Silence.\’ Again, it isn\’t bad, but it isn\’t original.

Check this album out only if you really like the Opeth sound and writing structure so much that you wish they still sounded something like Blackwater Park or Watershed. I\’m really not sure why anyone would want to hear more of that, as there are literally hours upon hours of similar content from the band, but if you\’re after something similar – check out Luna\’s Call and their album Divinity. Personally, I\’m just going to go listen to the half-dozen Opeth albums I have on my shelf, rather then suffer through yet another clone.