One thing to know about Divine*In*Sight, is that they deem themselves as a "spiritual progressive art-rock band". Thankfully they're unlike any other christian rock acts of the past (Stryper), as their spiritual messages are not done in the "in your face" style. Primarily their sound is reminiscent of early 80's Rush (Permanent Waves-Moving Pictures) combined with that of the chuga-chuga style guitar playing heard mostly from the late 90's Prog-metal.
The vocalist/ guitarist has a pleasant voice, similar to most Prog-metal/ metal acts without the annoying operatic nonsense and the most melodic to frantic guitar playing. The bassist has a great sound that could be comparable to Geddy Lee and Chris Squire and he does some fantastic keyboard work too. The drummer is very good too as he goes from melodic to fast'n'furious, from simple to complex.
There are three main songs on this debut; one of which is nine part concept piece or as the band calls it, "a Christian progressive art-rock opera", which clocks in at over 52 minutes. The first two songs, "BLACK RIVER" and "BY LEAPS & BOUNDS" (the only instrumental song on the album) are not actually part of the 9 part Sorrow & Promise rock opera, both showcase an excellent hard driven metallic assaults with melodic undertones with some acoustic guitars, lush keyboards (provided by the bassist), sometimes even portraying a large monstrous sound even though it's coming from a trio.
The third song, a Christian progressive art-rock opera entitled "SORROW & PROMISE", is basically about a man who is reflecting upon his spiritual life.
This epic features some evocative keyboard sounds, fantastic harmony vocals, laced with beautiful melodic guitar and bass playing (which at times switches to some fast, loud, aggressive rapid time changes). It ends with an enormous fanfare (a choir, a huge pipe organ, as well as the four key instruments).
Reviewed By Ron Fuchs On September 6th, 2001
