Chaos Divine - The Human Connection - guest review

Chaos Divine - The Human Connection - guest review

Cover image of the reviewed item
Release date
March 25, 2011
Reviewer
8.5
8.0
Tracklist
01. One Door
02. At The Ringing Of The Siren
03. The Beaten Path
04. Chasing Shadows
05. Beautiful Abyss
06. Silence
07. Invert Evolution
08. Astral Plane
09. No Road Home (Solastalgia)
Guest review by
Risto
April 06, 2012
This five-piece from Perth, Australia emerged as a fierce melodic death metal act with their debut album Avalon. Since then the band decided to take another direction with their music, toning down the death metal and throwing in progressive and atmospheric elements. While I found the debut to be lacking in songwriting and personality, The Human Connection is a completely different animal. The forward leap these guys have taken is massive.

The majority of the infectiously catchy melodies this album has to offer are centered around the vocalist David Anderton, who often reminds me of Vincent Cavanagh from Anathema with his emotional and technically solid singing. The atmosphere the guitar work creates matches remarkably well with the emotion of vocals, accompanied by some delicate keyboards and sampling. Guitarists have a nice style to make use of their elegance and wizardry here; take "Chasing Shadows" for example where the middle section builds up intensity all the way to Anderton's death screams, eventually climaxing to the refrain with an upbeat feel. While catchy guitar leads aren't in the spotlight all that much there's surely a fine place for them in the final track, the 12-minute mammoth that has a great old school prog rock feeling to it. The drumming arrangements are fairly solid as well and keep things rhythmically interesting most of the time.

Lyrical themes consist of loss, mental problems and eternity, among some other things. The lyrics aren't anything truly special for the most part but there's an odd moment of brilliance; "I am homesick while at home" is a great single line to describe what solastalgia is about.

Only slight dips in quality of songwriting prevent The Human Connection from being a really excellent album. Their style can be well recognized and with this kind of diversity it's hardly a total miss for any fan of softer progressive metal. Strongly recommended.
Rating breakdown
Performance: 9
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Production: 9
Written by Risto | April 06, 2012
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.

Comments

Comments: 7 Visited by 77 users
Milena
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Staff

Posts: 4603


Permalink
06.04.2012 - 12:31
Rating: 8
Milena
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Staff

Posts: 4603


This sounds very interesting, I'll make sure to check it out. Last time I followed your recommendations, I got Constantine, so...
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7.0 means the album is good
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Posts: 257


Permalink
03.06.2012 - 17:44
Rating: 8

Posts: 257


Great review thanks for introducing me to this band. This album is sick, but they really need to get someone else to write their songs lol. Chasing Shadows in particular is an awesome track.

The guitar work on a lot of the songs has some strong similarities to Enslaved's Vertabrae which is always a plus. Overall its a great combination of prog and melodeath.
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Milena
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Staff

Posts: 4603


Permalink
19.06.2012 - 20:10
Rating: 8
Milena
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Staff

Posts: 4603


Forgot to tell you I DID check this out and I quite liked it. Great music for a walk around town. When it comes to prog/melodeath mashups, we mostly get progified melodeath, but now, we got melodeathish prog, pretty soft and relaxing. Distinct. I'll follow these guys' career most attentively.
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7.0 means the album is good
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Posts: 88
Permalink
28.01.2013 - 17:45
Rating: 8

Posts: 88
Really nice album and good review thanks for making me to discover this album!!!!!!!!!!!
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Risto
Wandering Midget

Posts: 1122


Permalink
28.01.2013 - 18:48
Rating: 9
Risto
Wandering Midget

Posts: 1122


Written by OpenMind on 28.01.2013 at 17:45

Really nice album and good review thanks for making me to discover this album!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks mate, my pleasure
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Monolithic
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Posts: 669


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09.11.2013 - 20:46
Monolithic
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Posts: 669


I'm intrigued to check this album out. I don't think the songwriting or the lyrics would be much of an issue. If you can listen to something, and you can enjoy it, then that's what matters in the end.
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Posts: 2
Permalink
11.11.2013 - 10:06

Posts: 2
In the end, this album shows no mercy towards the listener. You will have to endure an army of unrelenting force, full-throttle attacks and blast beats. The problem of the album is that sometimes the band gets stuck and doesn't seem to manage to free itself from rehashed ideas. While the album can surely pack a punch, it is not a full knockout.
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aleezysam
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