Jake

"DIVISIONS" is an example of cautionary experimenting with a great result. Starset has had a relatively consistent sound and style for their first two albums, and some of that leaks over into Divisions. However, it is few and far between songs that remind us of their past works as they are outweighed by the amount of works with a new style the band is looking to fit into. With songs like "Faultline" and "Trials," we can hear Dustin's new take on vocals for the band and the overall sound. Songs like these are reminiscent of bands such as Imagine Dragons, with more sci-fi inspired tracking versus ID's rock and folk approaches. It is rather impressive to say the least. This choice in a mix of styling works extremely well, as it provides the album with a range we do not see very often in Western music anymore. Songs like "Perfect Machine" and "Waking Up" are a couple of examples of the aforementioned "original" Starset style. They are great, melodic songs, with soft yet powerful vocals from Dustin. The heavier tracks of the album focus on this new heavy metal/rock fusion, where the pop-ness is still present in most of the tracks chorus's, but they are jutted with rough verses, rock and metal inspired verses. The overall production feels less mainstream than the band's second LP "Vessels," but it still retains that "perfect for radio" sound, which some aren't akin to, me being one of them. A couple songs lean more towards that general production, such as "Echos," and while they are in no way bad, these track's production comes off as a track with limited creativity - creativity being a strong-suit of Starset. Along side that, a lot of tracks have a relatively simple lyric structure, where songs like "Faultline" are 99% line-by-line delivery to the beat, producing more of a rock rhythm versus the more complex, stylized and unique mix approach most Starset songs have. These are all still great works, but if there was anything negative to reflect on, it would have to be that. Overall, "Divisions" is another great work of art from Starset. Each song tells a story in their typical fashion and plays out to their overall sci-fi storyline. Approaching to a new metal rock style in some of the tracks has lead to greatness some places, while elsewhere it has lead to more mainstream and less creative outcomes. The LP in general is great, and I highly recommend it for all Starset fans new and old, as it was definitely made to be fan service for existing and not-yet existing fans.