Divine Empire Bio

The legendary Florida death metal scene thrived in the early '90s with such high caliber extreme bands as Morbid Angel, Death, Deicide, Obituary and Cannibal Corpse, but it was kept alive through local artists that did not receive as much attention during the area's heightened popularity. Now that the spotlight has been turned away from this once prolific scene and given way to more of a commercial rock environment, there are still a few bands left that are sticking to their roots through playing uncompromising extreme metal. One of the groups leading this charge against commercialism are the mighty DIVINE EMPIRE. This is what classic Florida death metal is all about, and few bands can still pull it off as well as they do.

It has been a long and difficult road to success for DIVINE EMPIRE, but this has only helped the group grow stronger throughout the years. Originally formed in 1998 by vocalist/bassist Jason Blachowicz (ex-Malevolent Creation), guitarist J.P. Soars (ex-Paingod) and drummer Derrik Roddy (ex-Malevolent Creation), this was to be the ultimate vessel through which these underground veterans combined creativity could flow. Through playing numerous festivals, along with recording a dynamic seven-song demo, they achieved just that and began to develop a very loyal fanbase. DIVINE EMPIRE quickly caught the attention of Olympic Recordings, who immediately offered them a deal. The group wasted no time recording their debut release, Redemption, that suddenly had extreme metal fans across the world praising them. After relentless touring with the likes of Vader, Borknagar, Witchery, Cryptopsy and Emperor, the band was struck with the untimely news of Roddy’s departure in order to join Hate Eternal.

With Blachowicz and Soars realizing that together they were an unstoppable creative force, the duo forged on. After enlisting the talents of session drummer Alex Marquez (ex-Malevolent Creation, Demolition Hammer) they began the writing process for their second full-length release. 2000’s Doomed To Inherit drew a heavier influence from the melodic style of European death metal while also keeping the brutal simplicity that earned them their rabid fanbase throughout the world. The band remained on the road through the greater half of that year, but once again constant line-up changes prevented their killing machine from moving forward.

After almost two years of endless searching for the right drummer, DIVINE EMPIRE have finally succeeded. Now the EMPIRE strikes back once again Duane Timlin (Anal Cunt, Forest of Impaled) who joined the group just in time to add his thoughts and influences to their writing process. In June 2002, they finished recording the new material for their third album, Nostradamus that was produced by Jeremy Staska (Malevolent Creation, Hateplow, Nonpoint and Poison The Well). While still maintaining a natural progression, the band have gone back to their roots with material in the vein of their first effort: creating fast, furious and extremely brutal death metal.

Soars describes how he knew that Timlin was the right person for the job, 'We auditioned many people and it took us so long to get things going again because we could not find the right person that fit our style. We have a good reputation for being a very tight, extreme band and we need to live up to these standards; otherwise it's not worth continuing on. When Duane came down to try out, he locked in with us immediately. Besides playing our songs, we were able to write two new songs after just three days of jamming together. Now we can finally continue doing what we do best: producing our own style of brutal death metal.' Meanwhile, Blachowicz claims 'This album will be extremely vengeful. I have let out a lot of personal aggression and all I know is that we’re back in business and this time, there’s no stopping us.' The band debuted some new material on their recent U.S. tour with Kataklysm and Misery Index and are now preparing for a tour alongside the legendary Overkill this summer.

You can feel the hate pouring out of this 10-track slab of brutality, which will undoubtedly leave a lasting impression on the death metal genre.

This is the record that extreme metal fans have been waiting for since the demise of Obituary and Carcass years ago. Nostradamus is the band’s most focused, aggressive release to date and none shall be safe once it is unleashed upon the unsuspecting public.