Niviane
The Ruthless Divine

Second album by Norman Skinner’s Niviane was actually released in 2020, but I just got this copy to review a short while ago and as usual I don’t read anything before, so I missed that they reissued it for more press otherwise I would not have reviewed it. Clever, I guess. The first album came in 2017 and was a decent power metal effort. This one called The Ruthless Divine looks more powerful, more aggressive, and it is.

You who heard the one about the druid king will know in what style this one will be as there is no big difference between the efforts. Skinner has the same rasy and poweful voice, the guitars are soaring, the choruses catchy, and the riffs powerful. The difference is that this is a bit more aggressive and that suits the vocals slightly better, but there isn’t that big a difference between the albums. This is slightly better on all accounts, but it still lacks in terms of original thinking, the vocals aren’t that great, and the album is way too long. The same issues I had with the previous album.

Niviane has moved somewhat forward, but it isn’t much. They need to do a lot more if they want to be more relevant, and while they might be on the upper half of the genre average it is hard to see that anything they do is particularly relevant. This is one of those albums we may like but still forget, it doesn’t have a standout hit song, it doesn’t have anything that makes you take actual notice. Sure, it is powerful, it is about mythologies and stuff, but just going for the generic usually backfires, and I am quite sure that is why the band thinks it is worth making a new go at promoting the album, as no one really noticed it before, and the story will most likely be the same again. Some reviews perhaps, some positives even, but the very few will buy.

I was considering giving a lower rating, but that would be a little unfair considering that this new effort is better than the previous one. In some regards it is a step down as you always hope for a band to improve and evolve, but these guys like so many others seem to be pleased copy-pasting what they have done before, rewrite some lyrics and mix a bit different, and you have a “new” album. That is the problem with many bands, not just Niviane, and you can listen to the album but don’t expect it to make much of a mark in your memory.

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