NIVIANE
“The Ruthless Divine”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Niviane (pronounced nih-vy-anne) are a power metal band from the USA formed in 2014, releasing their debut album ‘The Druid King’ in 2017, and their sophomore album ‘The Ruthless Divine’ in 2020.

The Californian power metal muscle Niviane are back, and weighing in with a second slab of pure, unadulterated, and unabashed power metal. Three years ago, the Sacramento six piece defined the American power metal sound with their debut album ‘The Druid King’ – and now, with their second album ‘The Ruthless Divine’, the band are gonna send shockwaves around the globe. For their new album is heavier, more aggressive, and yet still, incredibly melodic…

The album gets underway with the thundering ‘League Of Shadows’, the traditional sound of American power metal standing tall, and very proud, Niviane flying the flag very high – very high indeed. When you think of great American power metal bands, such names as Manowar, Savatage, Helstar, and Vicious Rumors spring to mind, with Niviane a more recent addition to that list. The band proved with their first album ‘The Druid King’, that they have risen to the challenge to become the next great American power metal band – and with ‘The Ruthless Divine’ are well on their way to succeeding. The band march on with the mid tempo and fairly anthemic ‘Crown Of Thorns’, majestically swaggering across the land. The infectious rhythm is gonna involuntarily nod your head, and bring a mile wide smile to every face of every power metal fan everywhere. Picking up the intensity, Niviane thunder on with the higher tempo and much more energetic ‘Dreams Crash Down’. The opening three songs have showcased a different slant on the power metal sound – all of them glorious, infectious, and one hundred percent attractive.

Yes attractive – for attraction is what has attracted you to this album. Niviane have cast their spell, and intoxicated you with their sound. A sound that is pure power metal, as the title song ‘The Ruthless Divine’ will show you. The heaviest hitting song heard so far, the hooks and melodies are just sublime. Head nodding and foot tapping is more than a side effect of ‘The Ruthless Divine’ – it is a must. For the infectious nature is all consuming, the band delivering a top drawer performance. ‘Fires In The Sky’ is four seconds short of seven minutes in length – and is an absolute corker… There is pace, power, and energy in the extreme. And for the first time since the album began, you can really head bang hard. ‘Fires In The Sky’ has everything great about the power metal genre sewn in – and you could say that it’s a perfect song. The only thing imperfect about it, is it comes to an end…

…but the album is by no means at an end. In fact, we have only just reached the half way mark! And what a way to mark the half way… ‘Fallen From Elysium’ is a savage thumper, an aggressive up front and in your face song that hits so hard you’ll be knocked flying into next week. ‘Fallen From Elysium’ will create mosh pit circles, with moshers wildly stomping to the anthemic heartbeat of the song. Niviane have crafted a perfect song for mosh pit mania – a mania that I wanna be a part of. Now as we know, the metal community is like family, bringing together brothers and sisters to have a cracking time, and with ‘Fallen From Elysium’, it’s time to have a family gathering and really enjoy ourselves. The most melodic song on offer (so far), ‘Forgotten Centurion’, strolls into view, and strides forth without a care in the world. Standing tall and very proud, ‘Forgotten Centurion’ has a sharp edged epic feel to it, conjuring images of story telling around a camp fire late at night…

The self titled ‘Niviane’ is a glorious mix of traditional heavy metal and the bands signature power metal sound. Just check out the opening NWOBHM inspired riffage. Awesome! As ‘Niviane’ progresses, it becomes a thunderous romp, with the band delivering a chant style chorus of their name “Niviane”. This is gonna be one of those in concert moments you wanna be a part of. Just imagine the scene – a sea of rabid metal fans all chanting at once “Niviane”. Fucking awesome! Offering a darker and moodier feel than anything that has gone before, ‘Psychomanteum’ will send shivers of fear down the spines of fans the world over. More chilling, more scary, and yet maintaining the albums overall power metal stance, ‘Psychomanteum’ shows off the bands darker side.

At over seven minutes in length, ‘Sinking Ships’ is by far and away the albums longest song – an epic in every sense of the word. Bold, brash, and bombastic, ‘Sinking Ships’ is a roller coaster ride of fire and brimstone. Cutting and thrusting with more energy and purpose than a world champion fencer, ‘Sinking Ships’ is relentless in its pursuit of power metal glory. And with the albums final song just around the corner, realisation hits that almost an hour has passed already!!! An hour that has been chock full of some of the best power metal heard all year. And as I have always said – when you lose track of time listening to an album, and the final song rears its head and surprises you with its presence, you have just listened to a great album. And in the case of ‘The Ruthless Divine’ – a fucking great album! And so, ‘Like Lions’, the final song, and the albums final hurrah. A fast paced and highly energetic intro launches ‘Like Lions’ into the stratosphere with high velocity. Adopting a thunderous and mid tempo pace, the chorus is a glorious cinematic, theatric and operatic style sing a long. It’s like the end of a theatre play, you know, the big finish, when all the cast appear on stage for the final number, enticing the crowd to join in for a good ol’ fashioned sing a long. What a way to round off a great album.

Overall, a superb one hour of power from an emerging great of the power metal genre – Niviane are on fire, and have delivered a sensational album.

TRACKLIST

League Of Shadows
Crown Of Thorns
Dreams Crash Down
The Ruthless Divine
Fires On The Sky
Fallen From Elysium
Forgotten Centurion
Niviane
Psychomanteum
Sinking Ships
Like Lions

https://www.niviane.com/
https://www.facebook.com/nivianemetal/

This review is the property of Iron Mathew, Frenzy Fire, and Metal Gods TV. It is strictly prohibited to copy any part of this review, unless you have both of the parties’ permission, or are the band/record label/PR company in question. Failure to adhere to these instructions will be considered as Plagiarism and you will be reported to the appropriate authorities.

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