Released Via Victory Records
Genre: Metalcore
Track Listing:
1. Severance
2. The Shepherd's Hands
3. A Well Run Dry
4. The Hands That Bled
5. The Descent
6. Eternal Thirst
7. Withering Kingdom
8. Remnants
9. The Will Of Man
10. Interlude
11. Divine Mercy
There
are two sides to this album. On the one hand; their metalcore style has been
done to death! Everything from the overall tone of the songs to the
bounce-along drum beats and chugging breakdowns. The vocals are mostly
uninspiring and predictable. Almost every clean melody is even in the same key
as the bands that come before this. The song structures are tired and do nothing
to get you interested, ‘The Hands That
Bled’ being a prime example. A lot of what is on show is shameless
repetition of things we have heard since the turn of the century and is more
likely to invoke a sigh of exasperation than anything else, especially when the
short interlude tracks come into play. Every trap that metalcore bands can fall
into, Darkness Divided fall hard. There are plenty of flourishes that are
clearly a product of clever studio tricks, and the overall mix of the album is
very pretty and pristine, but this doesn’t make up for the bulk of the material
itself.
On
the other hand, there are scattered amounts of interesting guitar lines and the
odd breakdown here and there are genuinely heavy, showing a Slipknot influence
on tracks like ‘The Will Of Man’,
which has a quirky sound at the breakdowns. There’s occasional proficiency
shown in the guitar lines that is frustratingly underutilized. These few points
are needles in a poorly packed hay bale, and it’s albums like ‘Written In Blood’ which show metalcore
is on its last legs.
Rating: 2/10
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