The Pitch: Fascinating, avant-garde progressive metal from Belgrade, Serbia's Organized Chaos featuring appearances from Nick Johnston and Richard Henshall from Haken. FFO: Ihsahn, Mike Patton, Winterhorde
What I Like: Sick. I was waiting for the next truly "out there" release to drop into my mailbox, so I am so glad that Organized Chaos caught wind of our site. The music this crew creates is absolutely wild, melding the more dramatic side of Ihsahn with 60's folk music and the experimental chaos of Mike Patton. Now for the fans out there who prefer their metal on the more traditional or heavier side, I encourage you to listen to a full track or at least skip about halfway through the opener before making a judgement call. This album kicks off in a way that will leave many metalheads furrowing their brows, but I promise you that patience will be rewarded.
It really is amazing when considering the breadth of influences Divulgence traverses. "Cinnamon," for example, calls back to bands like Jethro Tull and Simon and Garfunkle with a few bursts of Tomahawk for good measure. This is followed by the jazzy, electronic, and at times seemingly improvisational "Ache" and "Hide and Seek," which are in turn left behind in favor of the more traditional Opeth-y progressive rock and metal of "Broken Divine." Great guitar solo on that last one, btw. There's even the mostly acapella "Awake!" Needless to say, this album should leave you anything but disinterested.
Critiques: The vocals and related melodies can get a little cheesy at times. Again, this will likely be most pronouced for extreme metalheads, but even fans like myself of eveything from Ihsahn to David Bowie, Queen, and Styx may find themselves at times stifling the occasional cringe. I think that the opening moments in particular didn't connect quite right for me. Aside from that, my inner jaded metalhead would like to hear a few more Pattonisms sprinkled throughout.
The Verdict: Divulgence is an impressively innovative and eclectic album made by clearly passionate and talented musicians. Organized Chaos live up to their band name with compositions that show complete feearlessness in the name of convention and popular trends. This band makes art that they want to hear, and that's always worth giving attention.
Flight's Fav's: Cinnamon, Ache, Broken Divine
-Review by FlightOfIcarus
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