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Entertainment On his fifth album, the Mumbai rap star’s collaborations shine the brightest but he clearly prefers doing most of the heavy lifting himself, with varying results Mumbai rap star DIVINE has released his new album ‘Walking on Water.’ Photo: Courtesy of the artist Among the rappers in desi hip-hop, if there’s anyone who has full rights to flex, brag, and narrate his journey with total conviction, it’s DIVINE. Along with the likes of Naezy, Mumbai’s Finest aka Ace, Dopeadelicz, D’Evil, Enkore, and others, DIVINE was championing honest and heartfelt hip-hop right from the start. When his early albums Kohinoor and Punya Paap came out in quick succession in 2019 and 2020, respectively, DIVINE was consolidating his place as an alpha. There were a few tracks like “Mirchi” and “Chal Bombay” which showcased a commercial, club-friendly sound, but the ones that hit the hardest were tracks like “3:59 AM.” 2022’s Gunehgar came a couple of years later but quickly became a smash thanks to songs like “Baazigar” with beatsmith Karan Kanchan sampling an iconic Nineties Bollywood hit and DIVINE tapping Punjabi star Karan Aujla as his upward rise was well underway to create Street Dreams together in 2024. So where does the gully rap great go when he has to drop his fifth album? The answer, as heard on the 16-track Walking on Water, is a tightrope balancing act between keeping his early fans happy, feeding his own growth as an artist and proving he can be a mainstream rapper (if he wanted). There is only one rapper who can claim to have brought down Mass Appeal to India, only one rapper who took an entrepreneurial approach to desi hip-hop after the Bollywood movie Gully Boy made the style mainstream and only one rapper who could pull in the likes of Pusha T and Nas to perform in Mumbai. It’s all on the opening title track, “Walking on Water,” and all anyone can do is just listen to a master of the pen game keeping it real, backed by ad-libs and dreamy, classical-informed vocals. That’s just the intro for DIVINE, and he’s aimed to show evolution and reflection on the rest of the album, but it’s come up with mixed results at best. By leaning on a mix of longtime and new producers on Walking on Water, the sonic quality of the album doesn’t miss at all. The previously released “Triple OG” sees Phenom turn up percussive and orchestral hits that are refreshing. “Boom – Bonus Version” with Esna samples A.R. Rahman’s “Kehna Hi Kya” while “You & I” with Zzorawar samples R.D. Burman’s “Mehbooba Mehbooba.” Stunnah Beatz samples a Konkani song for fanfare on “Jungle Juice” that allows DIVINE to flow like Kendrick Lamar. “ABCD.” with producer Late Night Ricky’s synth line drops you straight to a late night on the streets. Singer-songwriter Anami (who is heard in the intro) lends her vocal flair to the wistful “Rain,” produced by Stunnah Beatz that ably interpolates “Give Me Some Sunshine” from the 2009 movie 3 Idiots. “Tequila Dance” with Adil and Hanumankind is an instant bop with its groovy but fast-paced rhythms, and “Dada” with its heavy-footed piano produced by Mercy is resolute. Divine in a promo picture for his fifth album, ‘Walking on Water.’ Photo: Courtesy of the artist When DIVINE tries to turn on the charm on “You & I”, it works for a while, until it really doesn’t. Unlike “Chal Bombay” or other previous material that’s in this romantic space, the rapper should realize he might just be trying too hard. It’s not that he can’t fit in (he’s done that well in the past), but this one might be a misfire. Even the preceding track “Doordarshan” borders on forgettable in terms of not offering anything new sonically or lyrically. With help from artists like Gurinder Gill on “Late Knights” and Riar Saab on “Saucy,” DIVINE gets to tap into Punjabi elements with some of the best in the business. In terms of collaborations, “ABCD.” with MC Altaf and Sammohit is yet another addition how the Gully Gang vibe is still going strong, with each rapper’s verse complimenting the other. “Tequila Dance” is one of the strongest moments on Walking on Water, along with the heart-baring “Drama.” They’re on different ends of the thematic spectrum — one is a celebratory team-up, while the other is a note to oneself about the beauty of dreaming out loud. “Homicide” sees the rapper call on Phenom once again, but the danger and menace is so much more palpable here compared to “Doordarshan.” Cutthroat in its storytelling, DIVINE keeps listeners on the edge with this thriller of a track. Five albums in, any sane punter would say DIVINE doesn’t have to prove his place in Indian hip-hop. But he’s out there still putting the word out and pushing in different directions. Some work, some don’t — but at the end of it, we can see the rapper is not doing this for relevancy (if he was, you’d see a lot more apparent gimmicks that we’ve seen from other rappers trying to grab the spotlight) but more in a continual search for authenticity. As long as that’s in sight, albums like Walking on Water will seem less like miracles and more like a milestone.   Read More

Entertainment Castle Rat, Ghost, Halestorm, Deftones, and 11 more artists made records that defined the year in heavy Metalheads have always found transcendence, exultation, and deliverance in music’s heaviest genre where everyone else has heard noise. Sometimes you need to feel like the sound coming out of your speakers is crushing your soul to get through to the other side. Bands like Deftones, Ghost, Castle Rat, Agriculture, and Primitive Man understand this on a fundamental level. That’s why the records by those bands, along with 10 more listed here, represent the genre’s best — and heaviest — albums this year. Photographs in illustration: Courtney Hall; Amy E. Price/Getty Images; Jimmy Fontaine; Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images Entertainment 15. Coroner, ‘Dissonance Theory’ In releasing their first album in more than 30 years, Coroner had a clear advantage over many reanimated bands: The Swiss thrash trio already sounded so futuristic during their initial late-Eighties-through-mid-Nineties run that there was little risk of coming off as a relic. Still, it’s striking how seamlessly Dissonance Theory slots into a 21st-century metal climate strongly informed by Meshuggah’s cyborg-esque technicality. Blazing through uptempo ragers like “Renewal” or digging into discordant groovefests such as “Transparent Eye” — tracks that instantly recall 1991’s Mental Vortex and 1993’s Grin, respectively — bassist-vocalist Ron Royce, guitarist Tommy T. Baron, and new drummer Diego Rapacchietti recapture the icy ferocity and eerie atmospherics that have made Coroner perennial cult favorites. —Hank Shteamer Entertainment 14. Deafheaven, ‘Lonely People With Power’ The latest album from the endlessly inventive metal band Deafheaven perfectly sums up their magic-trick mix of raw aggression, painterly lyrics, and earworm melodies. Lonely People With Power is an ambitious and oddly gorgeous suite, vacillating between aching isolation and introspective rage. It’s a culmination of a decade and a half of innovation — a mixing and merging of melody and metal, pain and poetry. Some moments explore conventionally masculine rage, but there’s also a membrane of beauty that holds the whole album together. —Brenna Ehrlich Entertainment 13. Runemagick, ‘Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Remains)’ Runemagick, the lachrymose brainchild of vocalist-guitarist Nicklas Rudolfsson, carved out a desolate corner of the underground back in 1990. Since then, they’ve held firm against every trend, beavering away in the name of darkness, death, and doom. Their stately 14th album, Cycle of the Dying Sun (Dawn of Ashen Realms), is a dusty love letter to the old ways — specifically, the late Nineties, when death-doom hybrids like My Dying Bride and Mourning Beloveth were locked in a global struggle with Runemagick to out-miserable one another. Here, Rudolfsson plays around with tempo and makes some interesting stylistic choices (gotta love a “shamanic trance voice”), but ultimately, the new album sounds old in the best possible way: weighty, human, and heavy as a curse. —Kim Kelly Entertainment 12. Chepang, ‘Jhyappa’ The Nepali American self-described “immigrindcore” quartet Chepang have been grinding away in the D.I.Y. world for the past decade, wowing devotees with their unique approach to the noisy genre — complete with Nepali pop samples. This year, they inked a deal with Relapse, and their fourth album, Jhyappa, saw the band tear through nine tunes in under 20 minutes. In a callback to their first EP, Lathi Charge, Jhyappa trims away any fat to serve up urgent grindcore with a heavy metallic backbone. Nepali lyrics delivered by dual vocalists Bhotey Gore and Mountain God veer between the personal (the frantic, oddly motivational “Ek Hajar Jhut”) and political (the seething, two-stepping “Drivya Shakti”), culminating in a moment of unexpected Zen on outro “Bindhai.” —K.K. Entertainment 11. Castle Rat, ‘The Bestiary’ A time-tested rule in metal is that an attention-grabbing act doesn’t mean squat without the songs to back it up. On their second LP, Castle Rat — a self-described “medieval fantasy heavy-metal band,” led by guitarist-vocalist Riley Pinkerton, a.k.a. the Rat Queen, who takes the stage looking like both a pro wrestler and a warrior princess — showed that they’ve clearly been taking notes. While their performances court camp, their music has serious depth, pairing chugging High on Fire-via-Sabbath doom with witchy moodiness and an almost artisanal craftsmanship. “It’s important for us to give people a world to step into outside of their own,” Pinkerton recently told New Noise; accordingly, The Bestiary is as expertly transporting as any other metal LP released this year. —H.S. Entertainment 10. Rwake, ‘The Return of Magick’ Rwake has never done things the “right” way. If they had, the doom metallers might have softened their monolithic sound, moved to a scene-y city, or committed to a punishing tour schedule that could have boosted their name recognition and pulled in some extra dough; instead, Little Rock, Arkansas’ heaviest export chose to grow on their own terms. Their sixth LP, The Return of Magick, was released after a 13-year pause, and it is an absolute stunner. The band tempers its trademark tectonic sludge with progressive flourishes, technical ecstasies, trippy interludes (“In After Reverse” is a brain melter), and nifty fretwork from Austin Sublett and John Judkins’ dual power guitars. —K.K. Entertainment 9. Whitechapel, ‘Hymns in Dissonance’ Cults, demons, and the seven deadly sins made this album one of the year’s darkest — and most fun. Whitechapel vocal gymnast Phil Bozeman shrieked and growled his way over 10 tracks that recounted a hellish portal and the cult leader who wants to reopen its gaping maw. Produced by one of the group’s three(!) guitarists, Zach Householder, Hymns in Dissonance was balls-to-the-wall metal, both in sound and lyrics. Who doesn’t feel like sowing chaos while blaring songs titled “Prisoner 666,” “Diabolic Slumber,” and “Bedlam”? It’s an intense listen, but Whitechapel’s attention to every devilish detail make it one of the year’s best executed. —Joseph Hudak Entertainment 8. Deadguy, ‘Near-Death Travel Services’ When Deadguy released their second LP after a three-decade gap this summer, they weren’t just following up any old record. Fixation on a Co-Worker, the metalcore outfit’s 1995 debut, was long enshrined as an underground classic — an unhinged tantrum of metallic hardcore that touched a nerve in any listener who’d ever felt themself losing their grip on sanity while stuck in a soul-crushing office job. Cueing up Near-Death Travel Services opener “Kill Fee,” it was