Strange Passions

Brand-new from Detroit and sporting black metal stage names that could be confused with a porno cast's, Divine Ecstasy rejects the well-produced blackened sound of some modern black metal bands in favor of an echoing, cacophanous sound littered with the blastbeats and tremolo picking of old. Strange Passions, their first EP, shows a band with a lot of noise in them, if not a whole lot of new ideas as of yet. There is some cold atmosphere in there, though. Eternally Scarred, a throwback to early Norwegian black metal, is a decent listen, and Sands of Time is another one. Vocalist Flesh's gravelly croak sounds weary on every track, as if at the end of an epic journey through space and time -- or, more likely, as if he's been having to sing multiple takes of the songs on the EP all day. Behind those vocals is a rough-hewn wall of sound, a pounding mess of tremolo riffing and blastbeats on almost every song that the production jams into the background under the vocals. Taste the Demon Seed is somewhat of an exception to this, a Darkthrone-style meld of black metal with a crust-punk vibe that the primitive beat accentuates. This is early yet, and the band hasn't really gone anywhere on its own yet, but their enthusiasm for early Nordic black metal is undeniable. Detroit has often been the home of quirky amateurs who became great, and perhaps Divine Ecstasy will walk this path too.