To begin with, to say that the new release from The Divided Line sounds solid would be an understatement; you can’t get around that fact. No matter if you listen to heavy, wild hardcore or more straightforward rock music, this band has got something for you. Such isn’t because they pack as many sounds as possible into their album, but it’s rather because their EP sounds like such an interesting, standalone piece of art.
The members of The Divided Line aren’t just making music that fits into a neat box and that’s that. They make you think both with their music and their lyrical content. The band makes you think of artists like Emarosa and Tool all at once, all while combining the two styles to make their own unique place in the music scene.
Vocalist Greg Cave is simply really good at what he’s doing, managing to evoke a sense of the emotional but straightforward range of the voice of singers like Maynard James Keenan of Tool and other projects. He’s carried along by beautifully smooth playing from the members of the band and a solid sounding production. In other words, the members of this band have the aura of seriously knowing what they’re doing.
The band assumes a place of authority in essentially all aspects of their music-making quite well. Their new EP is intelligent, thoughtful rock. The band members’ beliefs and feelings about the state of the world and how to react to it are well molded into a totally jam-worthy piece of musical art – and that’s no small feat. Sometimes, music is either one or the other – jam-worthy or message-centered. This band finds a great balance between the two.
Through the thoughtful concepts presented in the lyrics – such as the band’s take on what to do about the rise of technology — the band makes their EP feel like what artful rock is meant to be. It has the personal touch necessary to make it something more lasting than just a one-off heavy hitting jam session, making you think about the meaning of life and your relationships with other people all at once.
