CHALICE – Divine Spear

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8.0

• Bands:
  CHALICE
• Duration: 00:48:23
• Available from: 02/27/2026
• Label:

• Dying Victims Productions

Streaming not yet available

The new work by the Finnish Chalice is an immersive and emotional album like few others: our band returns to the scene after six years of silence with a product for refined and well-educated palates, entitled “Divine Spear”. A journey into the past that manages to revive the typical sensations of the legendary transition between the Seventies and the beginning of the Eighties, or rather the most creative moment of transition between the hard rock/progressive sounds and the beginnings of the new heavy metal wave (British and beyond).
So, an album for the exclusive use and consumption of old metalheads between middle and old age? In part this is certainly the case, because those who are older will feel fully involved in this epic and at the same time dark journey of almost an hour, but in reality “Divine Spear” is much more than a simple clone of ancient sounds and even new generations will be able to appreciate the magical aura of this little jewel belonging to the new wave of traditional heavy metal.

The band has been active since 2016 and is part of the German label Dying Victims Productions, which signed them after a first self-produced demo in 2017. Following this, the EP “Silver Cloak” was released in 2019 and the debut album “Trembling Crown” was released in 2020.
The quartet is made up of musicians well integrated into the Helsinki underground scene, all involved in various not particularly well-known projects, ranging from doom to black and death metal. In this plethora of second-rate bands to which the members of Chalice are part, however, Ranger cannot go unnoticed, a formation dedicated to a visceral old-school speed metal, in which the two guitarists Mikael Cristian Haavisto and Verneri Benjamin Pouttu played.
However, the Chalice project is not based on extremism or rough sounds, preferring a refined form of primitive heavy metal, characterized by a marked melodic imprint and refined references to the hard rock of the Seventies, as well as clear links with more niche subgenres such as occult rock and progressive folk.
As a whole, the work is shaped through a wise compositional mastery and a valuable mastery of the instruments, two factors in close relationship with each other in creating a unique identity of music and concept capable of enhancing a narrative atmosphere pervaded by a typically Finnish esoteric and spiritual heritage – therefore: sense of isolation, melancholy and solitude.

After the suggestive instrumental introduction of “Mare Imbrium”, the three minutes of “Dwell Of A Stellar Trance” are a ride of melodic and refined heavy metal from the Angel Witch school and of excellent workmanship, in which the icy guitar textures give life to a continuous succession of riffs and solos, supported by dynamic and galloping drums with a vaguely power metal style; a solemn song, in which Pouttu's voice stands out, here in a passionate and incisive version halfway between Kevin Heybourne and Jack Rucker of Warlord.
The six minutes of “Hollow Curtain” open a new door to the castle erected by Chalice and this time we move towards a crossing between the dreamlike and the epic, dominated by a rhythmic tempo and a mix of guitars with a gothic and romantic flavour, all perfectly in harmony with the emphasis of the vocal lines. The work of the six strings is excellent here too, with the solo duets that expand the drama of the text, centered on ancestral nocturnal rituals, fatalism and suffering, in full connection with the harshness of Nordic nature.
Everything changes again with “The Pact”, which, starting from a gloomy supporting arpeggio, then develops into a hard'n'heavy midtempo that brings together the typical traits of names like Saxon and Demon, with the addition in the central part of an evocative keyboard passage strongly inspired by the Saracens of “Heroes, Saints & Fools”, while the impact of the voice now recalls the Nordic/pagan tones of the Swedish Heavy Load.
A sense of ceremoniality and magniloquence emerges instead from the eight minutes of “Age Ethereal”, the most epic piece of the album, which alternates more introspective passages with a march of pure heavy metal and slowdowns tending towards a sort of gothic/doom, before exploding in a finale at more sustained speeds.
Here the study and organization behind the vocal lines stand out, embellished with choral interludes and the inclusion of a profound and magnetic narrator; a choice, the latter, which recalls the collaboration between Manowar and Orson Welles for the pieces “Dark Avenger” and “Defender”.

The title track follows the guidelines of London heavy metal of the early 1980s, thanks to a guitar framework very close to the very early Iron Maiden, which is adorned in the central part by an elegant pattern of Rush-style virtuosity.
“Empyrean Liturgy” radically mixes the cards on the table, veering towards territories close to progressive with acid folk and occult rock hues, in which Black Widow, Jethro Tull and Comus merge into one, through a sort of Dionysian ritual built on a traditional framework of guitar, voice and percussion, with the addition of a hypnotic flute with a shamanic character.
With “In From The Cold” we return to a ride similar to the first track, mixing the rules of the NWOBHM with the more melodic side of power and the bass-driven epic à la Brocas Helm. The work ends once again in the name of epicness and melody with the six acoustic minutes of “Alioth”, which, through a slow rhythmic scheme tending towards doom, manages to evoke esoteric images and distant soundscapes, in the wake of a legendary piece like “Venusian Sea” by Manilla Road.

Note of merit also goes to the cover, dominated by cold and typically winter tones, which recall the colors of Frank Frazetta's masterpiece “Snow Giants”, a work of Howardian inspiration used in 1972 by the hard rock group Dust for their album “Hard Attack”. However, Chalice's artwork with the grim reaper in the foreground is based on a rigid and severe static nature, which contrasts with the dynamism of Frazetta's warriors.
The dark atmosphere conveys a sense of drama and desolation typical of the most ghostly and hostile Nordic territories, to which is added the image of the crow in flight as an omen of death and misfortune, bringing to mind similar scenarios (in partially different contexts), such as “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” by Burzum.

“Divine Spear” is an ambitious album, composed and performed impeccably: a work not to be underestimated, especially for those who want to relive the legacy of the glorious Seventies and Eighties, thanks to a heavy metal with a vintage flavor, enriched however by a more refined and current framework in terms of production.
Chalice take the best of multiple worlds and styles, giving shape to a one-of-a-kind creature, which has the ability to bewitch the listener, making him travel through time.