LAST SATANIC DIVINE are Dark Metallers from Germany. Founded in 2011, they released their debut full length album, "The Rising", in May 2014. This album comes in at around 43 minutes of listening time. For a 12 track album, it is a bit on the short side, but it makes for a good quick listen for that short commute.

For a band that seems quit young, these guys are extremely musically talented. The music throughout "The Rising" is riddle with differing metal genres so much so that I think this group shouldn't focus on genre specifications. They have hints of Progressive Metal, tinges of Symphonic Metal, along with touches of Black Metal and dare I say a sliver of techno added for interest? These guys have created a melting pot of music, which tugs at and keeps the curiosity throughout the listening process.  Another great aspect of "The Rising" is the mixture of English and German that is used. They didn't stick with an all-German album, nor did they stick with an all-English album.

One thing I did not like within this album is the vocals. They aren't bad by any means; they are too monotone and never changing. It is almost like a speech that last the entirety of "The Rising"; the spoken word of "The Rising". It would be lovely to hear some contrasting vocals to compliment the current vocals. I do think that the vocals will be a turn off to some people, not being able to overlook those to hear the gem hidden in the music.

The album starts with "Pray", which is an interesting intro track. It starts out slow with a feeling of a prayer, and then quickly turns up the volume showing what it is that people really pray for.  The music is pretty cryptic and fits well with the lyrical content. The vocals are bland and don't really add much, apart from lyrics, to the track.

Track seven "Tear Me" was written beautifully. The musical content here is soft, but brutal. This is one of the best tracks on the album. There is a little more contrast in vocals on this one with the addition of a softer vocal in portions of the course. The key work is what makes this track. I really like how it this track was composed. "Dead Soul of Virtue" also has great key work scattered throughout; beautifully done.

The songs that are in German are more rough and hard than those that are in English. I don't know if that has something to do with the language difference or not, but those tracks do bring in the harder music.

"The Rising" is an album that will take a few listening sessions to hear the beauty that lies underneath the vocals. I can't tell if the vocals are so over whelming because they just lay over the music instead of woven within it, or if the monotone pitch itself is completely overwhelming.