Chalice – Divine Spear (Melodic Medieval Metal of Christian Might)
Here’s an album that took me some time to grasp. I won’t say “grower,” because honestly Finland’s Chalice know what they’re doing. This doesn’t grow on you, you need to grow on it. Because these guys really know what they’re doing. The issue was simple, being that I was simply not used to listening to melodic medieval fantasy metal. I’ve been indulging too much in the bestial. Been awhile since I had anything good in the heavy metal vein, and Chalice are so beyond the usual abilities of most band submissions I receive I think I was too stupid for it. I’ll admit that. I’m a stupid boy, but now I’m smart, because the band’s latest full-length, Divine Spear, is a thickly-bound tome of classical medieval Church might that reads like it deserves a Nobel Prize in literature (if it were music).
By chance I’ve been playing through a legendary medieval man-to-man combat game series called “Cry Havoc,” and goddamn if this isn’t the perfect soundtrack for it. Chalice are delicate with their crusading, but make no mistake, the celestial riffs they wield are not to be trifled with. Perhaps the primary detail that requires the listener’s full attention, and which I should mention, is how these guys tell their tales. Divine Spear is an illustration of the importance of world-building in this type of metal, and it’s rather impossible to take any of it in separation to understand it. Weaving in Christian themes with a military focus that hearkens back to an era where battering rams splintered gates into stone fortresses, the band utilizes their supreme skill to entice the listener to draw their broadsword and slay the unbelievers. But to do this, they needed to utilize every asset in their camp including ethereal acoustics, solos shimmering like a reliquary, and a strong, confident lead to call the peasants to the pilgrimage. For certain, this is what Chalice has done. As I listened through it dawned on me, like the eyes of God in the sun, and I found that sampling sections brought more like to the glory that is Chalice, so that in taking the entirety in again for a full listen, I realized my soul was saved. God be praised, I am reborn.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Chalice – Divine Spear
Dying Victims Productions
Cover Art: Gustave Doré
4.5 / 5
