• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

In Greece some magic can happen, especially in terms of some exceptionally good Heavy Metal. Diviner, this five-piece band from Athens featuring one ex- and two current members of InnerWish, got their debut album, Fallen Empires, out at the end of November 2015, and have been receiving quite a lot of recognition since then.

Fallen Empires, containing 10 songs all in all, is a very powerful, catchy, hook-filled and occasionally Thrash-riffs driven album, proudly carrying the torch for traditional and mean-sounding 80s Heavy Metal, which is nearly impossible to resist (if you have ever been a fan of that era, especially bands like Priest, Manowar, Maiden and Dio and whatnot – along with some spices borrowed from the more modern era of Metal à la Iced Earth). The bottom line, however, is Diviner know their stuff, sounding convincing and doing their own stuff as well as they possibly can. There's nothing artificial or fake in the band's sound, and for the lovers of that 80s magical Heavy Metal era, Diviner's debut album has a lot to offer. What makes things a little bit sweeter on here is Yiannis Papanikolaou's (ex-InnerWish, ex-Battleroar) vocals, at times mostly reminding me of Ronnie James Dio and Tim "Ripper" Owens with his whole vocal range. His voice fits the music like a glove, sort of bringing an extra element of credibility out of Diviner.

In short, Diviner have the right recipe for how traditional and very powerful Heavy Metal should sound like, really understanding the roots of it and being able to deliver their goods by respecting said roots. Just get this based on my shameless praising of this band and their debut opus.