Introducing: Divine Martyr

American band Divine Martyr have crafted a dramatic power metal and symphonic metal sound that’s predominantly faith-based and focuses on issues like mental health, anti-marginalisation and depression.

The band started out with a Craigslist ad back in 2016. Mark McKowen (drums, orchestration and backing vocals) sought to start a band emulating the great European power and symphonic metal bands with Christian lyrical themes. He first teamed up with bassist Woody Hughes, and then Jason Hyde (guitars and backing vocals) joined later that year. There have been several vocalist changes over the years, until operatic singer Kassandra “Kassey” Chandler joined after a lengthy audition process last summer.

On the sound they’ve crafted over the years, Mark told us: “The short answer is that we’re predominantly power metal, but we also add in various layers of orchestration. Moving forward, we’re hoping that we hear the full orchestral writing as well. In short, the orchestration has always been there, but has often been buried in mix. We intend now to bring that more forward, especially with Kassey’s vocal style. Most songs have at least 30-40 orchestral tracks and historically, were written early-on in Finale (or another notation program).”

And Woody added: “Everything up to now: general heavy metal with some symphonic and power metal elements. Going forward? Much more up-front symphonic orchestration combined with power metal. And maybe some Middle Eastern scales thrown into the mix.”

Our latest taste of that is Resistance, which is the first track with Kassey on board, gives us a hint of those Middle Eastern scales, and was released at the end of last month. It opens up with ominous instrumentals under a funky riff and stabbing guitar chords, which develop as bold horns take the reigns alongside driving drums. Mysterious instrumentals, including Middle Eastern-style sounds in the background, come in as Kassey’s engaging vocals take over and build in intensity. That flows into a powerful chorus “Father God I pray, I thank you for your son, Who was slain, and rose, On that 3rd day, I am yours forever, Protect me with your shield, I live by every word that you say,” supported by Kassey’s dramatic operatic backing vocals.

Horns return in a cool little bridge section, with more Middle Eastern vibes through a dark verse that builds towards another big chorus. A dramatic instrumental section builds in intensity, dropping into Kassey’s vocals leading us into a powerful final chorus supported by lively guitar licks and big blastbeat drums to bring the track to a heavy conclusion.

On the track, Jason said: “The reception so far has been incredible! We have gotten some incredibly positive feedback, and in just a few weeks our video has already seen close to (now over) 9k views!”

Woody explained: “What Jason said! A lot of people are surprised a bit with Kassey’s voice, and I think that’s a good thing because they’re going to be in for an even bigger surprise here soon.”

And Mark added: “We’ve had a great (for us) international response so far. We’re indie… so we won’t have the 100k+ listeners right away like labelled bands, but that’s OK. Our goal is to find our pockets of people wherever they might be. Woody is right, we think that the new album will definitely be powerful. We hope that it’ll be received well.”

That’s the first track with Kassey on vocals and their first release in two years. But the band has a strong back catalogue of symphonic metal goodness to dig into with a series of singles over the last seven years, including the excellent Absolution, Truth and Shatter The Doubt.

The Divine Martyr sound draws on a wide range of musical influences, from symphonic metal, rock and orchestral music to thrash and death metal. Kassey is big into symphonic metal bands like Nightwish, Epica, Xandria and Ex Libris, as well as gothic metal like Tristania and early Sirenia, telling us: “These female leads are all who I draw from in their storytelling, either in contemporary or classical/operatic styles, they’ve inspired me for a very long time now.”

Jason grew up on 80s thrash and 90s death metal, including bands like Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Death, Carcass, and Cynic, before getting into 2000s symphonic metal like Nightwish, Epica, Kamelot and more recent bands like Eluveitie, Illumishade, and Seven Spires. Woody takes inspiration from the techniques of bassists like Ryan Martinie (Mudvayne) and Cliff Burton (Metallica). And Mark’s musical journey began in orchestral listening at pre-school, before getting into radio rock like Billy Joel and Elton John and SoCal acts like Beach Boys, Carpenters, Jan and Dean and Mamas and Papas. But as he began to learn percussion, he got more into the likes of Rush and Van Halen, then prog and fusion bands like Yes, Dream Theater, Symphony X, Zappa, Vai, Malmsteen, Savatage+TSO, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Powerwolf and Rhapsody, before discovering the likes of Nightwish, Xandria and Epica. And now he listens to Celtic and Native American music or nature sounds. Quite the combo.

And on what inspires them to write music, Kassey told us: “Lyrically, we try to tackle subjects that we’ve personally never heard anyone express before in our specific subgenre. We know that a lot of songs are shallow nowadays, especially when it comes to the supernatural and spiritual. We strive to write about real experiences that people are going through or have been through, not pretending that we don’t see them, when others do. Pretending that life as a Christian is all happy-go-lucky and nothing hard ever happens is not truthful to how life is/ has been (writing-wise) for me. Themes of the many roads people go through (relationships, their walks with God, living in this world, scars from their pasts, the gospel’s hope) is what influences me most.”

Adding to that, Woody said: “Jesus Christ’s Gospel message is our sole reason for being a band. Our lyrics will always strive to be up front about our faith and we hope we simply plant seeds as ‘we meet people where they are.’ We never want to be a band that waters down our message. You should be able to listen to our songs and know without a shadow of a doubt that we’re a Christian band. Not just a band made up of Christian members.”

“Taking from what Woody said,” Jason continued, “our driving force is to let the listener know that even though dark times are inevitable, they’re not alone and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Hang on for one more day because you never know what joy might be waiting just on the other side of sorrow.”

And Mark concluded: ” In all this, depending on the objective, we will try to portray a mood musically from the orchestration side to illustrate the intended emotion (or topic). At this point, depending on what we’re attempting to describe lyrically, we write more like audio cinematic writers: painting the scene for cohesive clarity, and hopefully leading the listener to the intended point. We don’t just paint the problem, we also point towards the solution.”

There’s plenty more to come from Divine Martyr, who are midway through writing an album from which Resistance was the debut. They tell us the album is “very cinematic,” drawing on symphonic, power metal and prog influences, alongside straight opera and atmospheric elements. When the album’s wrapped up, they’ll be looking into taking the show on the road, targeting cities within six hours of Indianapolis in 2026 with a view to branching out further in 2027. And that could include a virtual show for international listeners.

And Mark added: “For anyone interested in our music, please tune in and even message us. We love it. Since we’re completely independent (no label, no distribution), word of mouth goes a long way. We will also be rebranding our live show. Since Jason and I work in the engineering disciplines, we are tweaking the live show from a production standpoint, which will now be drastically different. In addition, as a band, we are absolutely dialling in our live presence.”

You can follow Divine Martyr on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal and YouTube.