LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

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Guillaume
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LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

Post by Guillaume » Wed Feb 06, 2019 11:00 pm

4th album of this Argentinian prog/power band, but the first I'm aware of.
If you miss Melodic-Russ Symphony X style, check this out. Not saying it's of the same caliber of early SymX, but it's really good IMO.
Great musicianship, excellent production.
Singer is a certain dude named Diego Valdez. Mark Boals also sings on one song.

Label is Fighter Records and they put on the whole album on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/oUHjYJY1w0Y

G

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Re: LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

Post by Hearing Aid Man » Wed Feb 06, 2019 11:57 pm

Yeah - Excellent stuff! Singer was on the recent DreamChild release and still has quite a Dio vibe going on.

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introclaus
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Re: LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

Post by introclaus » Thu Feb 07, 2019 12:15 pm

Musically this is really good and definitely has an old school SymX / Adagio vibe going on. The song w Mark Boals is my favorite as I feel like Diego always sounds like he is in the exam room at the proctologist instead of the recording studio. It’s pretty painful to my ears and it sounds like it’s quite painful for Diego as well.
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Guillaume
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Re: LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

Post by Guillaume » Thu Feb 07, 2019 2:48 pm

introclaus wrote: as I feel like Diego always sounds like he is in the exam room at the proctologist instead of the recording studio. It’s pretty painful to my ears and it sounds like it’s quite painful for Diego as well.
Man.... You'll never cease to amaze me... And even more when I read this comment from a guy who loves Nils Patrick Johansson, who, even though I like him, would fit what you wrote much more than Diego!! :twisted:

Diego Valdez rules.

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Re: LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

Post by introclaus » Thu Feb 07, 2019 4:24 pm

Guillaume wrote:
introclaus wrote: as I feel like Diego always sounds like he is in the exam room at the proctologist instead of the recording studio. It’s pretty painful to my ears and it sounds like it’s quite painful for Diego as well.
Man.... You'll never cease to amaze me... And even more when I read this comment from a guy who loves Nils Patrick Johansson, who, even though I like him, would fit what you wrote much more than Diego!! :twisted:

Diego Valdez rules.

LOL

I don't think he is a bad singer in any way - he is just screechy to my ears and forced, and it grates on my nerves after a short while. I can't listen to any of his bands for very long before getting tired of it. NPJ however works to my taste.
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Guillaume
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Re: LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

Post by Guillaume » Tue Feb 12, 2019 10:57 am

Glad I'm not the only one enjoying this:
https://www.angrymetalguy.com/lord-divi ... os-review/

Some excerpts:
That was wise, because at times these cats sound quite a bit like classic era Symphony X if they were a bit more streamlined and linear. This is a very talented groups of unknowns led by impressive vocalist Diego Valdez (Dream Child, Iron Mask), who sounds a whole lot like a not so poor man’s Russell Allen (the righteous and proper Symphony X Allen, not the NJ thug nu-core Adrenaline Mob version). Interested yet?

As you might have guessed, Diego Valdez is the star of the show, bringing his Russell Allen-esque pipes to the mix with great vengeance and furious anger. His rough-edged singing is a joy and he can hit all the notes necessary to keep up with his band-mates as they lustily shred and wank. When he dials his voice back a bit he reminds me of Apollo Papathanasio (Spiritual Beggars, ex-Firewind), which is quite a winning combination. Guitarists Hugo Galli and Manu Lopez mean business with a collection of heavy riffs and wild solos that keep the album driving and entertaining. These cats can play and some of the solos are quite amazing. Keyboardist Diego Palma keeps up with the Joneses, going to toe-to-toe with solos every chance he gets. Fortunately he also knows to keep his playing tucked behind the guitars when they aren’t actively embroiled in note wars, thereby keeping the music from sounding too cheesy.

Lord Divine is a very skilled band that seems poised to grab for greater notoriety, and Facing Chaos is a fun, rousing stomp through the prog-power genre. With some minor trimming and a touch more polish on the songcraft they could be a major force. If you’re tired of waiting for new material from Symphony X, you could do a lot worse than giving this a whirl. Now to their back catalog I must go.

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Re: LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

Post by introclaus » Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:47 pm

Guillaume wrote:Glad I'm not the only one enjoying this:
https://www.angrymetalguy.com/lord-divi ... os-review/

Some excerpts:
That was wise, because at times these cats sound quite a bit like classic era Symphony X if they were a bit more streamlined and linear. This is a very talented groups of unknowns led by impressive vocalist Diego Valdez (Dream Child, Iron Mask), who sounds a whole lot like a not so poor man’s Russell Allen (the righteous and proper Symphony X Allen, not the NJ thug nu-core Adrenaline Mob version). Interested yet?

As you might have guessed, Diego Valdez is the star of the show, bringing his Russell Allen-esque pipes to the mix with great vengeance and furious anger. His rough-edged singing is a joy and he can hit all the notes necessary to keep up with his band-mates as they lustily shred and wank. When he dials his voice back a bit he reminds me of Apollo Papathanasio (Spiritual Beggars, ex-Firewind), which is quite a winning combination. Guitarists Hugo Galli and Manu Lopez mean business with a collection of heavy riffs and wild solos that keep the album driving and entertaining. These cats can play and some of the solos are quite amazing. Keyboardist Diego Palma keeps up with the Joneses, going to toe-to-toe with solos every chance he gets. Fortunately he also knows to keep his playing tucked behind the guitars when they aren’t actively embroiled in note wars, thereby keeping the music from sounding too cheesy.

Lord Divine is a very skilled band that seems poised to grab for greater notoriety, and Facing Chaos is a fun, rousing stomp through the prog-power genre. With some minor trimming and a touch more polish on the songcraft they could be a major force. If you’re tired of waiting for new material from Symphony X, you could do a lot worse than giving this a whirl. Now to their back catalog I must go.
Music is solid for sure. This review compares Diego to two singers I really like a lot (Russell and Apollo) but I honestly don’t hear it ... this is way too forced and “aggressive for the sake of singing aggressive” - a shame as it musically is very nice.

Again Guillaume, don’t take this as an attack on you (I see you doing that on the other forum) - some people enjoy Diego’s voice and some people don’t. I’m in the latter category.
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Guillaume
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Re: LORD DIVINE - Facing Chaos

Post by Guillaume » Wed Feb 13, 2019 2:25 pm

introclaus wrote:
Guillaume wrote:Glad I'm not the only one enjoying this:
https://www.angrymetalguy.com/lord-divi ... os-review/

Some excerpts:
That was wise, because at times these cats sound quite a bit like classic era Symphony X if they were a bit more streamlined and linear. This is a very talented groups of unknowns led by impressive vocalist Diego Valdez (Dream Child, Iron Mask), who sounds a whole lot like a not so poor man’s Russell Allen (the righteous and proper Symphony X Allen, not the NJ thug nu-core Adrenaline Mob version). Interested yet?

As you might have guessed, Diego Valdez is the star of the show, bringing his Russell Allen-esque pipes to the mix with great vengeance and furious anger. His rough-edged singing is a joy and he can hit all the notes necessary to keep up with his band-mates as they lustily shred and wank. When he dials his voice back a bit he reminds me of Apollo Papathanasio (Spiritual Beggars, ex-Firewind), which is quite a winning combination. Guitarists Hugo Galli and Manu Lopez mean business with a collection of heavy riffs and wild solos that keep the album driving and entertaining. These cats can play and some of the solos are quite amazing. Keyboardist Diego Palma keeps up with the Joneses, going to toe-to-toe with solos every chance he gets. Fortunately he also knows to keep his playing tucked behind the guitars when they aren’t actively embroiled in note wars, thereby keeping the music from sounding too cheesy.

Lord Divine is a very skilled band that seems poised to grab for greater notoriety, and Facing Chaos is a fun, rousing stomp through the prog-power genre. With some minor trimming and a touch more polish on the songcraft they could be a major force. If you’re tired of waiting for new material from Symphony X, you could do a lot worse than giving this a whirl. Now to their back catalog I must go.
Again Guillaume, don’t take this as an attack on you (I see you doing that on the other forum) - some people enjoy Diego’s voice and some people don’t. I’m in the latter category.
I don't take it as an attack on me! I'm just debating over arguments I think are wrong. It doesn't change a thing for me if you like him or not. BTW, I don't hear Apollo either, but surely hear some Allen in his voice.

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