Track By Tracks: The Divine Project - Rebirth (2026)

About the EP as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

Rebirth is a heavy, emotionally-charged EP that moves through resistance, disillusionment, danger, and ultimately endurance. Across the four tracks, we blend our love for all genres of metal while trying to create music that hits with real weight but still feels built for connection and release. The EP’s emotional thread is transformation through conflict. It begins with defiance and uprising (“The Revolt”), descends into fractured belief and emotional ruin (“Ruins of Truth”), spikes into volatile psychological tension (“Don’t Startle The Murder”), and closes with a long-form survival anthem that tells a story of a final turning point (“The Longest Night”). For us, Rebirth ultimately lives up to its name. Not as a clean reset, but as a hard-earned return for The Divine Project; fighting our way through the collapse of old truths, and emerging with something stronger, sharper, and more alive.

Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):

1. The Revolt:

Musically – The Revolt launches the EP with urgency and a kick in the ass. It’s a modern metal track driven by tight, punchy drums and aggressive guitar work that feels both militant and anthemic, with a balance of heaviness with clarity and a chorus that is made to hit live - big, propulsive, and emotionally direct. The Revolt is made to please the crowd and to incite an epic mosh pit.

Lyrically – The Revolt is a song about the powers to be trying to hold us down. It’s about the hypocrisy of violent, ‘self-justified’ power structures that bring the cyclical nature of revolution. It sounds like a battle cry on the surface, but it is more about being self-aware and uncomfortable, forcing us to open our eyes and see what’s happening around us. It’s not a simple ‘rise up’ anthem; it’s a warning. If we don’t take action now to prevent this life cycle from repeating, we will fall into a state of “us versus them.” When this happens, we must fight for a change, knowing that change may bring destruction. We must talk about The Revolt now, to prevent it from occurring.

2. Ruins of Truth:

Musically, Ruins of Truth shifts into a darker, more atmospheric space. It is less about pure momentum and more about tension, weight, and emotional gravity. The guitars, bass, and drums lock into a heavier groove and create a sense of collapse and aftermath while the vocals carry a haunted intensity. We would call this our “nu-groove metal” type of song, which will help get the heads nodding.

Lyrically, Ruins of Truth is about false leaders and their imposing their beliefs onto us. It’s about a society in moral, psychological, and ideological collapse. We are trapped between extremes, manipulated to slowly surrender our humanity through division; yet somehow, there are people out there who follow. Even today, as a country, we are forced to cooperate with our neighbours while their leader only shows us tyranny.

3. Don’t Startle The Murder:

Musically, Don’t Startle The Murder is the EP’s most volatile and striking track. It is sharp, unpredictable, and charged with menace. It leans into a more aggressive and cinematic edge, with riffs and rhythmic turns that feel like they are constantly tightening the screws, and a bridge that takes the listener in a totally new direction and genre. The vocals are meant to move between restraint and explosion, giving the song a sense of danger and psychological pressure. It’s djent, it’s trash, it’s fucking heavy!

Lyrically, Don’t Startle The Murder is a story from the perspective of someone who has been attacked by those who call themselves righteous. They watch as these people prey on the weak and vulnerable, as they are ‘easy’ targets - like a crow that only feeds on what’s already dead or dying. This person sees what the righteous are capable of doing, but also watches as their way of life slowly destroys them from the inside. For them, greed, not God, is the real driving force, but every action has a reaction, and consequences are inevitable. It is the moment when you realize the situation is not just broken; it is actively threatening. This is an angry song, but not a reckless one. The anger is controlled, aimed, and ethical. It speaks for the victim, not the executioner, and refuses to let the righteous ones hide.

4. The Longest Night:

Musically, The Longest Night was designed to close out the EP. It is our most expansive and emotionally sweeping song. It takes its time, building from a tense, introspective mood into something larger and more anthemic, blending heaviness with a sense of endurance and calmness. We wanted to create something that leads into a wide, cinematic arc, that feels like that moment when you let go of that breath you’ve been holding on for so long. The vocals are less confrontational and more like survival; raw, exhausted, and determined. With a drum rhythm that’s designed to make you dance and guitars that showcase our love for 2000’s metalcore, The Longest Night is a collective favourite of all of us.

Lyrically, The Longest Night is a war-type story told from the perspective of ‘a soldier’. The song is about being used by their ‘leader’ (a higher power) and realizing too late that the cause that they fought for was a lie. This story is to help paint a picture that sometimes we do things we are told are right, but end up being wrong. We are told to fight for what is just, but in fact is just a ploy. It shows that we are all human, all vulnerable, and sometimes can fall on the wrong side of history. It is a call back to yourself when you are disappearing inside the weight of everything. This isn’t a pro-war song, or a simple anti-war song – it’s a post-war reckoning. It honours the instinct we all have to protect each other, while telling the story of someone who fell for the system that exploits this instinct.

STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS ABOUT THE EP "Rebirth":

1. All the pre-production/demo for Rebirth was done internally. We all have some sort of ‘home studio’ to make music, and David and Mitch are graduates from Metalworks Institute (Mississauga, Ontario) with diplomas as audio engineers. This allowed us to put together high-quality demos, which, in fact, were so well done that our engineer, who helped mix and master the EP (Eardrum Valley Records), was able to use the guitars and bass from the demos in the final production. Only drums and vocals were re-recorded in a live studio session.

2. Everything heard on the EP is performed live. Right now, we aren’t keen on making music that couldn't be expressed properly with only the 5 of us on stage, so we avoided writing music for Rebirth that needs essential backing tracks to play live. Our motto was ‘if it can’t be played on our instruments, then we don’t do it’.

3. For the track ‘Don’t Startle The Murder’, during the bridge, you will hear additional percussion being played in the background. We decided during the vocal recording sessions that we wanted to add something to build the ‘Latin’ vibe that the bridge had. Unfortunately, we didn’t have access to any Latin instruments of sorts, so Derek brought in toys that his kids use for the percussion. This included a toy maraca and a clapper of sorts. We used these to make the background percussion sounds that you hear in the recording.

4. A lot of people have approached us asking if DSTM is actually supposed to be ‘Don’t Startle The Murderer’. The title is intentional as it’s a play on words. A group of crows is called a murder, and the chorus of the song screams out, ‘the crows will carve you out’. The title ‘Don’t Startle The Murder’ is a warning not to provoke these people (the crows), who tend to be in a higher place of authority.

5. The Longest Night wasn’t called that until the day before we submitted the EP for release. For the longest time (heh), it was called Wake Up, but we felt it didn’t properly express what we wanted to convey in a title. It’s definitely the favorite track in the EP amongst all the band members, so we wanted to find a really meaningful and profound name for it. After some hemming and hawing, we finally bit the bullet and settled on the tried and true “Name-the-song-after-the-significant-words-in-the-chorus” method and called it The Longest Night.

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