• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

This is another debut from a US prog metal band on Metalages Records, who seem to be making serious efforts to find the next Fates Warning. I also received Katagory V's last disk from this label, and I like them both pretty much the same. In other words, I like them OK.

Division are more metal and less prog, with tighter arrangements and a harder and less wanky overall sound. They are good musicians and their singer is pretty good too, if nothing special. The obviously also worship later Fates Warning (see tracklist), but aren't trying as hard to sound like them as some bands do. Here and there Division manage to conjure up some good stuff, as on "The New Elite", "The Prophecy (Greed)", and the catchy "Tapping The Vein". Some times their singer gets shouty and this brings in a verrrrry slight Nu-Metal influence, but just a tiny bit. Overall Division are pretty good, recalling other fine US bands like Cage or Steel Prophet.

The problem is the usual one for young bands, in that the songwriting is mostly just OK, rather than good. I find no parts of this disc offensive, but then only a few parts are really interesting either. Division show potential, but as composers they are just not up to the drill yet. I see that they could be, so stay tuned and we'll see if they figure it out. On a side note, this is issued on "Microsoft HDCD", which as far as I can tell means it has some spyware shit built into it that collides with my firewall and crashes my computer. Thanks guys, thanks a lot for that thoughtful gesture. I'm docking you a quarter point for that bit of fuckery.