Chaos Divine

There's a fairly major turnaround in sound here, and it's a change for the better. Perth quintet Chaos Divine's debut of 2008, Avalon, was quite a brutal affair: it was pretty much straight-up, in-your-face metal with some progressive elements, boasting mostly dirty vocals. The band have turned the corner with their nee release, and are putting themselves in an excellent position to increase their fanbase by doing so.

In losing some of their heavy edge, however, the quality of their songwriting hasn't dropped one iota. In fact, they've actually stepped up a notch in this department. The increase in clean vocal melody and dynamics in their sound has in turn increased the memorable nature of their tunes. There are only occasional blasts of heavy on the new album, which consequently tend to make more of an impact when they do occur, as opposed to when they're coming at you constantly and full-throttle.

One Door sets the tone beautifully for the rest of the album to follow, and feels as thought it'd be highly accessible for those people not already fans of the band - showing possible single potential if they cut it down from its six minutes-plus length. Chasing Shadows is also extremely easy on the ear, while still retaining an epic quality, a strong degree of progressiveness and touches of heaviosity in tasteful measure.

And speaking of epic, the twelve minutes plus No Road Home (Solastalgia) closes The Human Connection off magnificently, with its moody intro, off-kilter but catchy riffing and groove. An early contender for song of the year, this one, which is a tough call as this record is chock-full of tasty selection.

This is yet another fine example of just how far Australian heavy music has come in the last decade. The Human Connection is a monumental effort, and if it doesn't garner them some serious national and international attention, there's little justice in the universe. Powerful, progressive, interesting and accessible all at once, The Human Connection is a must have for fans of the genre.

Best track: No Road Home (Solastalgia)
If You Like These, You'll Like This: Ghost Reveries OPETH; Night is the New Day KATATONIA; I am the Revolution VOYAGER
In a word: Complete
Label: Firestarter - Beat Magazine

CHAOS DIVINE
Oh The Humanity

Chaos Divine guitarist Ryan Felton is a soft-spoken, thoughtful guy, choosing his words carefully when he talks about the inspiration behind the Perth-based metal act’s new album, The Human Connection. Chaos Divine launch said album at The Rosemount Hotel this Friday, April 15. TRAVIS JOHNSON reports.
Self-effacing, Ryan Felton gives a lot of the credit to singer David Anderton, who used personal tragedy as a kind of creative fuel for the project.
“His father actually passed away while we were writing the album, and so a lot of the lyrics are actually about that,” he begins. “He gets quite involved in what he believes the lyrics should be about. I guess it’s just more about a lot of his views on the way we interact with each other, and the way people should or shouldn’t be doing things, I guess. It’s a fairly broad range of lyric ideas.”
Over the past six years the band has built a reputation as one of the premier local live metal acts, and have racked up an impressive number of prestigious international support slots to prove it. But this new work sees them try to move beyond their roots. Not so much a departure from their previous release, Avalon, as an elaboration on the musical themes thereof, The Human Connection sees the band meld solid metal underpinnings to more experimental grace notes that draw on a wide range of influences.
“My philosophy’s always been that the more diversity you listen to on a day to day basis, the more that diversity will come through in your music when you’re trying to write songs,” Felton explains. “That’s where I take my listening to, and I’m always keen to check out as many different styles as I can.”
The result is an interesting musical balancing act, and one that will hopefully let the band stretch themselves without alienating their core metal audience. “In the beginning we were finding our feet, really. Our last album and the EP before that (the five track Ratio) was fairly straight down the line in terms of trying to sound as heavy as we could at the time. We were obviously thinking, ‘well, let’s write for a metal record’. But this one we’ve approached completely differently. We sort of let our non-metal influences in a lot more, and we haven’t been writing with the intention of making one genre or putting one sound down on CD - it’s really multi-faceted.”
And while Chaos Divine have built up a loyal following here in Perth, Felton is quietly confident that this new album will allow them to finally crack the lucrative European market.
“You go into a country like Germany and it’s more or less their pop music,” he concludes. “If you can get your music across to Germany that’s pretty much the be all and end all of promoting a metal band. But before we really do that we have to make a bit more of a mark - Xpress Magazine

Perth’s Chaos Divine – one of Australia’s best progressive metal exports since Vanishing Point – are back with their sophomore release, The Human Connection.

Their 2008 debut album, Avalon, saw the band on the receiving end of much critical acclaim, culminating in numerous awards, including being voted one of the top ten international metal albums of the year by triple j listeners. The band then went on a successful string of dates touring both locally and abroad with the Big Day Out and ProgPower Europe festivals.

The Human Connection is one of the most eagerly anticipated Australian metal releases of the year and it doesn’t take the listener long to realise why. Our answer to Opeth immediately engage the audience within the first few opening bars of One Door, a pulsating and emotional underlying riff provides the foundation for what is a song worthy of inclusion on an album from any of the world’s best progressive metal bands. That being said, Chaos Divine offer a darker edge than many prog-metallers before them opting for a partnership of clean vocals and growls, like many latter year melodic death metal bands.

The abilities of guitarists Simon Mitchell and *Ryan Felton,*as well as the vocal talents of David Anderton, are aided at the control desk by Sweden’s Jens Bogren who has produced for Symphony X, Katatonia and Opeth. The band draw the listener in with some entrancing time changes laid by the tight rhythm section of drummer Ben Mazarol and bassist Michael Kruit. The band often delves into hypnotic breaks and unlike many progressive metal albums, this is one that you can listen to from start to end without once reaching for the forward button.

Chasing Shadows and Silence combine accessible melody and song-writing with musical craftsmanship to a tee whilst the heavier Inert Evolution is similar to Scar Symmetry. This is no doubt a band that has drawn heavily from both the melodic progressive stylings of Dream Theatre and Fates Warning and the Gothenburg-sound of In Flames and Dark Tranquility.

No Road Home (Solastalgia) is an ode to Australian Professor Glenn Albrecht, who in 2003 coined the neologism solastalgia, in reference to the distress that is produced by environmental change impacting on people while they are directly connected to their home environment. The track itself clocks in at 12:15 which is always a risk for a band of any calibre, however Chaos Divine provide enough by way of engaging key changes, melodies and breaks that keep the listener glued to their speakers for the entire track.

It’s hard to find anything all that negative to say about the band’s second offering and if there’s any justice, touring in support of this album should see them get picked up by a major label in the very near future. The band are expected to play shows around the country soon so head out and support local metal as Chaos Divine have again demonstrated that we can mix it with the best that our overseas counterparts have to offer. - Faster Louder

by Brett Neuling | Tuesday, April 26

Chaos Divine’s new album, The Human Connection, is a more mature take on their previous music library. Gone are the raw edges, the rough vocal style, and the brutal blasts of chaos; instead, they are replaced with smooth precision. Whether that is a good or a bad thing remains to be seen.

Chaos Divine is a five piece technical heavy metal group that formed up in 2005. Coming out of Perth, Western Australia, their first recording effort - 2006’s EP Ratio - turned heads in the local metal community. Their next album, 2008’s Avalon, won quite a few state music awards, and was indeed a package of brutal beats and powerful polyrhythms (and an album I myself was extremely impressed with). The influences of one band in particular, Sweden’s revolutionaries Meshuggah, was quite prevalent in the album.

However, with The Human Connection, much of this raw brutality and technicality are gone. Possibly this is just a maturing of sound. More likely it has something to do with the mixing and mastering of the new record, in Sweden’s legendary Fascination Street Studios under the meister Jens Borgen (Soilwork, Opeth, Katatonia, Hammerfall, Eluveitie). While this studio is most certainly fantastic in terms of sound production, and the skills of Jens are without a doubt at the top of a field, he has a very distinctive touch. As such, this album sounds awfully like Soilwork – to the point where whenever a song from The Human Connection starts playing through my speakers, there’s always a few seconds hesitation as to whether I’m hearing Chaos Divine or a song from Stabbing the Drama, The Great Divide or The Panic Broadcast.

Now, there are two ways of looking at this. I myself am quite a fan of Soilwork, and so it’s not a ridiculously bad thing that Chaos Divine have progressed so far along the path of Soilwork’s sound. The smoothness of production, the emphasis on rich melodies, the softer touch to the album – these aren’t necessarily bad things. Indeed, there is still a fair bit about the album which is unique to Chaos Divine; there are still technical touches in the guitars and drums unheard in any Soilwork song, there is still originality in the songwriting; it’s not like the band have gone for a blatant copy of an established method (I think).

However, much of what attracted me to Avalon is, indeed, completely missing on The Human Connection. The hoarse, shouting style of singing has been almost completely replaced by clean-style singing. The power and brutality of the album, so evident on songs like ‘Contortion,' ‘Our Delusion’ and ‘Cages’ is missing, replaced by much heavier song-wide melodic structures. The guitar’s chugging, staccato style has been tuned out in the mix, replaced by ‘catchier’ sections and hooks, and the drums are far less distinctive. I can’t help wonder if in ‘evolving’ their sound in this way, Chaos Divine have perhaps destroyed the core elements of what made the band so popular within the underground metal communities; uncompromised power and ground-level authenticity.

Having said all this, there is certainly some good work still on the album. The standout song for me was ‘The Beaten Path,' a song with some genuine emotion-stirring ability and an epic chorus, and the longer track ‘No Road Home’ is quite memorable also. Still, in regards to this album, my advice is different to the norm: if you are a fan of more mainstream metal bands like Soilwork and In Flames, your odds of liking this album are increased – but fans of Chaos Divine and Avalon should definitely check out the MySpace before purchasing. - Brett Neuling, thedwarf.com.au

Chaos Divine - The Human Connection

15-Apr-2011
Label: Firestarter
Produced by Chaos Divine
Playing time: 60.03
Rating: 85%
Reviewed by Andrew Kapper

With Chaos Divine taking influence from both the extreme and ambient end of the progressive metal scale, the Western Australian quintet’s sophomore release The Human Connection is a staggeringly large and powerful album. Although overzealous members of the press have been quick to compare the five-piece to fellow Perth based act Karnivool; outside of the two group’s obvious progressive leanings, Chaos Divine’s usage of extreme vocals makes them a much heavier and metal influenced entity.

Opening tune "One Door" is fantastic number, and pretty much sums up the band’s sound, with delicately restrained verses giving way to crushing choruses and progressive bridges, while "At the Ringing of the Siren" uses the same formula to achieve the same winning result. Vocalist David Anderton is certainly the star of the record, with his clean vocal work just as powerful and essential as his death metal bellows and roars. The furious "Invert Evolution" shows off the heavier side of the band, but they never get too brutal or blatantly death metal, with the songs usage of clean singing and vocal melodies just as important as the double kick drum work and the dissonant guitar riffs.

At an hour long, The Human Connection is a lengthy album, especially with the growing modern trend in metal bands to release half an hour long records, but it’s a huge compliment to the band that the sixty minutes fly by before you notice it. Epic closing number "No Road Home (Solastalgia)" is a perfect way to wrap up the release, with the spacious keyboard and clean guitar intro slowly unravelling to reveal a full on prog attack, with odd-timed riffs and off the wall drum rhythms. A heavy bridge section emerges from the fray, before the song and album closes with an Opeth-styled guitar solo section, and then an ambient wall of white noise.

While they’ll (probably) never debut at number on the American Billboard charts, Chaos Divine deserve see a huge step up in the national and global progressive music scene on the back of The Human Connection. Combining both soaring vocals and lush soundscapes with deafening drum work and crushing guitars, the group’s second full length is a gem of an album, and will hopefully get the group into the higher echelons of the prog metal hierarchy, on both an Australian and international scale. - Andrew Kapper, Loud Mag Onlice

A different kind of progressive melodic death metal

Usually when one thinks of progressive/ melodic death metal, names like Opeth, Neuraxis, and even Ana Kefr come to mind. However, one could also consider Chaos Divine one of the many skilled and talented greats in such of the genre, despite their tendency to do things a bit differently with their musical formula, especially when it comes to their latest album, 'The Human Connection'. Rather then rely on the death metal vocals dominating most of the verses and the clean vocals performing either on the slow, soft songs or the choruses/ interludes of the heavier tracks, Chaos Divine invert the roles, giving almost complete lead to the clean vocals which sound pretty good (like a cross between Tomi J. of Amorphis and Chris A. of Scar Symmetry, along with the growling styles too). Musically, the entire listen of 'The Human Connection' is very fun, jumping all over the place with great guitar riffs and breakdowns, both simple and technical, while mixing in some great drumming and even keyboards.

The album opens with "One Door”, which is a pretty tame track with how the guitars are melodically structured to keep playing their soft, repetitive notes while the clean vocals emphasize the power. Halfway through things pick up as the death vocals make their first appearance in their fearsome nature with some heavier riffs and then things settle out a bit as the clean ones come back in but the music still has some thunder to it rather than going completely soft. Overall, though, the style is highly melodic death metal with some great progressive elements in how instead of just unanimous riffs over and over, they jump all over the place. Other tracks like "Beaten Path" are a bit more of the typical melodic death metal style- starting out with catchy, rapid chugs and then dropping to a steady pace that tends to carry on through most of the song, save for the guitar solo which just tears everything apart, followed by an interlude of harsh vocals for a brief moment. As powerful as they are, the clean vocal style clearly steals the show (especially on "Beautiful Abyss”, one of the softer tracks on the album that is also highly progressive with the mix of spacey sounding guitars and keyboards). However, that isn't to say that the death metal styled vocals don't have their moments. "Invert Evolution" lives up to its name as the harsh vocals dominate most of the verses, and even though it sounds like a generic progressive death metal track, it is a surprise for listeners on this album so far.

The epic "No Road Home” tends to stretch itself out a bit. Like the first track, it builds up soft and slow before picking up pace. They keyboards are more evident throughout the first half, but later things fall more to melodic death metal territory with how the guitars quickly jump from note to note while trying not to be too technical and miss out on all the beauty. While there are no death metal vocals involved, the power behind the guitars and the clean vocals is more than enough to keep the music varied, especially when considering the wild solo at the end. One could almost consider this track an honourable tribute to a band like Dream Theater. As a result, though, it makes it the highlight of the album, and tops anything done from the band's previous release, 'Avalon’. In fact, all of 'The Human Connection' trumps 'Avalon’, because it builds on the strengths of the former album without any flaws and tries to do things a little differently without trying to sound too much like any other bands out there.

(Independent/Firestarter Distribution)

Added: April 14th 2011
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Score: 8/10 - Colin McNamara, The Metal Forge

Title: The Human Connection
Artist: Chaos Divine
Label: Waterfront Records
Released: April 2011
In one word: Vast
When one thinks of Australia, images of a vast expanse of barren desert come to mind. Ideas of kangaroos bounding across the rolling red dunes and random pubs in the middle of nowhere dance through our thoughts with twangy country music about men named Duncan who seem to drink excessively set as the soundtrack. It is for this reason that we find ourselves overwhelmed and excited by acts such as Pendulum, Birds of Tokyo and Chaos Divine who, now and again, crawl out of the woodwork and wow both the local and international markets with their diverse blend of sounds and well written tracks. Chaos Divine’s newest release The Human Connection, launched on 15 April in their home town of Perth, Western Australia, seeks to push these boundaries even further.
Citing influences such as Opeth, Lamb of God and Dream Theatre and boasting an impressive resume (including support spots for Trivium and Slayer), Chaos Divine give themselves a lot to live up to in terms of expectation. From the first few seconds of the opening track ‘One Door’, listeners will be enthralled. The melodic guitar intro is reminiscent of Devil Driver’s “End of the Line”, and David Anderton’s vocals are like a siren’s song sucking the listener deep into a musically induced trance. Similar to Brisbane’s Dead Letter Circus, the tracks present a pleasing blend of melody and heaviness, with a common factor between all of the tracks being the strong and well rehearsed guitar work. Guitarists Simon Mitchell and Ryan Felton truly show their talent in track 2, “At The Ringing Of The Siren”, with the perfect match made between violent metal strumming and stunning plucked acoustic at different peaks and lows in the song. Another standout track is “Chasing Shadows”, with its heartfelt lyrics and varied sound. This song stands out for me mainly for the flawless, driving drum work of Ben Mazzarol in the background – where most metal bands are heavy on the symbols and double kicks he manages to find a happy medium that still doesn’t skimp on the raw metal sound the band are known for.
After listening to this album, I find it safe to say that Chaos Divine stand uncontested in Australian Metal at the present. Their clean, tight performance on record conjures images of an incredible live show and cements in my mind the belief that the future of Australian music is more than the mimic of America’s finest or the odd warbling country act fresh out of Tamworth. Metal in this Great Southern Land is very much ALIVE! - Darcie Reid, Music Vice