DIVIDED MULTITUDE Divided Multitude

During the past couple of decads Norway has become a force to count on when it comes to progressive metal with several bands of international standard. Trondheim based Divided Multitude definitely sort among those, now celebrating their 20th anniversary with the release of their fifth, self-titled, studioalbum. I really liked their 2013 album 'Feed On Your Misery', and the new one pretty much continues in the same path as it's predecessor even though the material on this one is even more melodic and the vocals slightly more high pitched than before. Still it sounds unmistakable Divided Multitude with hard riffing guitars over a tight rhythm section as the driving force, with massive keyboards creating an epic atmospheres and on top of that some really nice keyboard and guitar harmonies and solo work. I also feel that singer Sindre Antonsen delivers his best work to date on this album. The song material is really strong as well with a fine balance between up-tempo, hard riffing tecnical songs, more mid-tempo stuff and even some more laidback atmospheric parts. The album was produced by the band themselves, while mixing and mastering duties once again has been taken care of by Jacob Hansen. The album also features guest singers Terje Harøy (Pyramaze/ Crossnail) and Brian Ashland (Shadow Gallery/ Eden). To sum it all up I would say that Divided Multitude is the bands most consistent and probably best album to date, and it should definitely appeal to every fan of melodic progressive metal out there. The only thing I don't like about it is the sporadic use of screaming, hardcore-ish, vocals. That's simply not my cup of tea at all, but fortunately they have vicely chosen to keep it on a minimal and acceptable level so that even I can live with it.

Discography:

'Divided Multitude' 2015

'Feed On Your Misery' 2013

'Guardian Angel' 2010

'Falling To Pieces' 2002

'Inner Self' 1999