German modern metallers A Life Divided are back with their fifth album. After a more synth focused release in 2020 with Echoes, the band are promising a return to their darker, heavier roots. Let’s see if that’s true!
Launching into a heavy, dirty riff is definitely a good way to re-establish yourself as a metal band. The effect on the guitar at the very start reminded me of Muse in the best way. It drops back for the verses, staying heavy but cleaning up for the great clean vocals. It gets massively catchy with the pre, the harsher vocals being fantastic in their call-and-response style. Then a HUGE chorus hits, everything coming together perfectly from the vocals to the instrumentation. We get somehow a radio-friendly breakdown, kinda like Voyager’s one at Eurovision this year, before a final chorus takes us home. A great song and a fantastic way to open an album!
‘Best Time’ keeps things heavy yet adds some fun groove to it. The verses again drop back, giving off surprisingly heavy Lord of the Lost vibes. Germany seem to be the country that is easiest to tell where they are from from the sound, clearly! It leads into another fantastic, arena-filling chorus. The bridge was fun, again giving a very modern, radio-friendly sound and feel. Another fantastic track, the highlight being that riff and the chorus!
‘Life Goes On’ teases a slower, almost-ballad track before one of the best, heaviest riffs on the album explodes in. The acoustic version of it during the verses was awesome, sounding a tad country and a tad Bon Jovi. It’s bouncy, a lot of fun and excellent. The chorus is still huge and pretty poppy, too, being fantastic. It was a very good choice for a single and I’m shocked it wasn’t the first! I can’t get enough of this track, and it easily made our playlist!
Tracks like ‘True Religion’, ‘Hand of Healing’ and ‘Tear Down the Walls’ are all pretty similar to what has come before. There are some slight differences, like the second in the list leaning more into the synth-heavy style of the previous album. However generally, although all three tracks are amazing, they follow the same formula as most of the album pretty closely.
Latest single ‘Disorder’ has a bit more emphasis on the heaviness and harsher vocals, almost giving it a melodeath feel to it. Or at least some Poison era Bullet for my Valentine metalcore. The speed and aggression were added to so well with the angrier vocals. And we still get a huge, catchy chorus to break things up and hook everyone else in. And we get a pretty decent breakdown in the middle to round it out! Another fantastic track and another to make our playlist!
‘Thanks for Nothing’ is very much a ballad-like song. It still goes pretty hard, but is slower, bigger and more anthemic. The verses are very synth-pop while the choruses channel an almost punk feel thanks to the lyrics. It’s an interesting combination of genres from a metal band, but it still sounds easily identifiable as A Life Divided, one hell of a feat! There isn’t a massive amount to the song, but what is there is awesome. It’s catchy, slower and an emotional ballad!
‘Send me An Angel’ is another fun synth-heavy track. It boarders on power metal with how massive and open the chorus is. It’s a nice touch and something different on the album, adding some fun and depth. Meanwhile ‘Burn the Fields’ feels like a combination of the synth style and the heavier sound this album has focused on for the most part. It’s a fun track that almost reminds me of Ghost in parts, just a tad heavier.
The final and title track of the album opens on a beautiful piano melody. Said melody forms the basis of the entire track. It’s a simple, sad ballad type track, and a really interesting way to close the album. The whole track feels like it’s a slow build, a Nine Inch Nails/Muse combination of epic proportions. Honestly, while it fits current trends and works well as a closer, I’d have almost been tempted to open the album with it. Still, it’s a fantastic, catchy track, and while doesn’t quite end the album on a bang, definitely works well still!
Overall: This was awesome! A modern metal masterclass from a band who should be a lot bigger than they are. From the heavy riffs to the clean and growled vocals to the synth stuff, everything about the album was great. It was put together by a group of talented people who clearly know what works in the modern scene. I loved every track on the album and the band definitely have a new fan in me!
The Score: 8.5/10