Speed is the philosophy. At least that's the way it appears. Divine Heresy is Dino Cazarese's first post Fear Factory project and it's obvious he hasn't mellowed in his approach or abandoned his industrial metal roots. Catchy riffs and grooves abound on this disc with minimal barking and plenty of clean, coherent vocals ala' latter day Fear Factory. As a matter of fact, Tommy Vent's vocals are SO Burton C Bell-ish, it's hard to say that this is NOT actually the next Fear Factory record.

Track one, "Bleed The Fifth" is a furious blast beating pummel. Mechanical and heavy in a hardcore kinda way. "Failed Creation" is very fast and brutal as well, yet has enough melody to make it listenable to the average metal fan. Track three is custom designed for the mosh pit with just the right amount of keys/strings to create a cool atmosphere and keep the listener (and slam dancer) off balance. Vent bellows "This threat is fuckin 'real!" and you begin to believe it. "Impossible is Nothing" is Scandinavian death metal meets modern metalcore melodicism at it's finest. As the album moves along, you simply get the feeling that this band will beat the fuck out of you live.

In summary, I think it's safe to venture that Bleed The Fifth is melodic enough and close enough to traditional hard rock to keep the atypical underground metal freaks away yet pull in the stragglers starving for some brutal, accessible and cool. No artsy, Depeche Mode style shit here; just good ole metal. The solos are solid but it's really all about the tempo and rhythm until the surprising cigarette lighting closer,...uhmm,..."Closure".

Bottom line, cyber metal is still plugged in (although not necessarilly alive and well) to the devil horned servers in the engineering room and Dino is making sure it doesn't rust and collect bugs. Although i wouldn't recommend this disc to Frontline Assembly and Skinny Puppy freaks, I would for fans of say,...Static X, early '90's Fear Factory and metal heads that enjoy a good old kick in the cojones.