Throwing together post-hardcore, shoegaze, post-metal and a hearty dose of noise, Belgian quartet Divided draw comparisons to contemporaries like Brutus, Stake and Chat Pile with a sound that’s as raw and brutal as it is honest. With only a single EP under their belt these relative newcomers make a striking impact on their powerful debut album Light Will Shine.
Despite being one of the more accessible tracks on the album (clocking in at a comparatively swift five and a half minutes), the opening song ‘Cinder’ is a perfect encapsulation of everything that makes up Divided’s unique DNA. With a repeated, earworm riff which acts as a consistent backbone to the track, fitting perfectly as the band shift from low and slow stoner territory through Converge-esque demented noise and shoegaze inspired sonic exploration. Singer/drummer Pepijn Vandaele’s talents are on full display here, simultaneously combining tastefully complex beats and vocals which waver between soaring metal screams and punky, raving, off beat shouts. ‘Cinder’ comes across as a genuine statement of intent, showing off a little sliver of every style Divided excel at while still feeling like a cohesive, well constructed track in it’s own right.
Compared to a number of the other tracks ‘Cinder’ feels like a bit of an outlier, getting some of the band’s more raucous energy out of the way early before taking a more subdued tone on slow-burn tracks like ‘Days Undone (So Long)’ or ‘The City Slowly Undresses’. These two tracks take different approaches to their more melancholy sonic palettes, the first, ‘Days Undone (So Long)’, steadily building with droning guitars and an almost post-rock inspired attention to atmosphere before exploding into a demented metal breakdown whereas ‘The City Slowly Undresses’ strips Divided’s sound right down to a lone piano which morphs into a scratchy acoustic guitar backing Vandaele’s strained, gloomy voice, crescendoing as the song goes on with layers of tortured strings. It’s great to see what a band like Divided can do with these longer, less metal focused tracks on an album that’s otherwise pretty damn heavy.
“‘Cinder’ comes across as a genuine statement of intent, showing off a little sliver of every style Divided excel at while still feeling like a cohesive, well constructed track in it’s own right.”
Special attention has to be paid to the track ‘The Vicious Loop’, an almost ten minute behemoth of crushing, experimental metal. Taking up almost a quarter of the album’s total runtime by flying between stoner-infused post-hardcore and airy, melodic shoegaze, this track gives Divided more than enough space to get into a groove and take their musical ideas to their logical extremes. Starting off with plenty of punky energy, ‘The Vicious Loop’ steadily degrades into a post-rock style extended instrumental jam with thunderous drums backing reverb-drenched clean guitars with occasional scratchy vocal samples or demented screams breaking the tension. ‘The Vicious Loop’ taps into the same emotional well as tracks like ‘Dream House’ by Deafheaven or ‘A Solitary Reign’ by fellow Belgians Amenra, using an extended runtime and deep ambience and oppressive heaviness to completely explore the band’s musical ideas.
Divided’s crowning achievement on Light Will Shine is the closing track ‘Sleepers’, a therapeutic examination through stripped-back shoegaze of frontman Pepijn Vandaele’s anxieties and a promise to accept them as part of himself. ‘Sleepers’ takes a far subtler approach than the rest of the album, featuring only clean guitars, restrained drums and Vandaele’s rough, Mark Lanegan style vocals before exploding into a cathartic post-metal breakdown. The track starts off as intimate, open and honest and, while retaining all of these qualities brings in the heavier sonic elements the listener has come to expect from the rest of the album.
Light Will Shine manages to blend its elements of shoegaze, post-hardcore and post-metal together with grace and tact, with every detail feeling perfectly crafted for the moment. While there’s plenty of intimate, atmospheric music here for post-rock and shoegaze fans to sink their teeth into, fans of the heavier side of experimental music are sure have a new favourite band in Divided.