Released By: Self Released
Release date: Available now
Genre: Progressive Heavy Rock
Links: facebook.com
Lineup:
David Anderton – Vocals
Ryan Felton – Guitars
Michael Kruit – Bass
Ben Mazzarol – Drums
Simon Mitchell – Guitars
Tracklist:
1.o Landmines
2.0 Badge of Honour
3.o Painted with Grey
4.0 Soldiers
5.0 Symbiotic
6.0 Tides
7.0 Before Dawn
8.0 The Shepherd
9.0 Mara
10.0 With Nothing We Depart
Over the course of the three albums they have now released, CHAOS DIVINE have been adjusting their musical approach from what began as a pretty typical Melodic Death Metal groove on their debut AVALON, to a more Progressive Metal approach on the 2011 follow-up THE HUMAN CONNECTION, and now with their third release, the crowd-funded COLLIDING SKIES, a sort of Modern Heavy Rock/Prog Rock/Prog Metal hybrid.
With the exception of a few moments here and there, the growled vocals prevalent in the band’s earlier work are basically gone now, which actually works as a benefit here due to the improved clean vocals of David Anderton. Listening back to previous albums, Anderton has always had a great voice, but on COLLIDING SKIES he has outdone himself and has that rare ability to convey pure emotion and soul that most vocalists will only ever dream of. I guess the closest comparison I could make would be ex-KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Howard Jones, but to my ear Anderton is the better of the two.
Throughout the course of the album similarities can be found with bands as diverse to each other as MARILLION, IT BITES, OPETH, INCUBUS, SEVENDUST, DREAM THEATER, DEAD LETTER CIRCUS and another fantastic Aussie progressive heavy rock act KARNIVOOL. It makes for an overall very modern sound that could almost be classed as quite commercial, something that may initially scare some of the band’s long-time fans away, but they do it with such conviction that you really couldn’t fault them for heading down this path.
While the sound as a whole has been toned down significantly for this release, there are still a few heavy moments that seemingly come out of nowhere, and this element is used to great effect adding plenty of depth and colour across the whole album. There are also still plenty of ‘proggy’ elements to this release, but CHAOS DIVINE have always been about style over substance, so these elements are never over-used and each song is carefully structured to flow well and not get lost within itself like a lot of loose progressive material can be accused of doing. Not a moment is wasted here, no filler, no average songs…Just pure melodic excellence from start to end.
COLLIDING SKIES is a shining beacon in an already strong year for world-class Australian heavy music. It’s very easy to recommend as it seems to something for everyone, unless you don’t like clean vocals…then you might find this one a bit of stretch. On a side note, SOLDIERS is probably my favourite song of the year so far across all of the different genres of music that I listen to.
Written by: ZeeZee Dawson
Ratings: ZeeZee 10/10
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