ALBUM REVIEW: All That Divides – Black Peaks
It’s always a really fun time when a band just explode after a debut album drops. For better or for worse the excitement around them is palpable and momentous until everything is forgotten about or they earn their stripes and justify all the hype. There have been plenty of bands to explode only to disappear as quickly as they arrived, but BLACK PEAKS are no such band, as they have really quite exquisitely displayed on their sophomore effort All That Divides.
Similarly to Statues, the Brighton troupe’s debut outing, All That Divides wastes no time in kicking things off, as the massive first single Can’t Sleep erupts out the ground with a twisting riff showing off a band more focused than ever before. This opening sets the tone perfectly, as the huge riff bleeds into a lurching verse that opens into a huge chorus when the time’s right. Following on is Midnight Sun, a track to keeps up the theme of dynamic diversity, with a bridge section that builds and swells as Will Gardner continues to prove himself as one of the brightest talents of the new musical generation.
Electric Fires will take some off guard thanks to its production that adds a dull tone to the vocals, ramping up the post-hardcore vibe of the track and playing off the murky bass that gives the song so much life. By this point in the album it becomes transparent that the whole record is to be recognised as a singular work, as each track bleeds into the next. The final bars of each song cue up the opening of the next, making a seamless experience that makes this an album and rather than a collection of songs. BLACK PEAKS build on their dynamic combination of sounds even further on All That Divides, creating clear divisions between the heavy and the light but refusing to simply lurch from one end of the spectrum to the other, instead allowing for progression and composition to develop the song naturally.
The pacing of the record is expert, with every song boasting multiple stand out moments, sometimes arguably too many. All That Divides does become a victim of its own success sometimes, as the need for progression in all the songs sometimes results in everything being thrown in together. The closing track Fate I & II boasts some of the best moments in the album, with the opening vocal melodies catching the perfect balance between pop-catchiness and progressive melody but quickly shifts itself into a fresh and heavier musical passage before those melodies are able to sink in effectively. With so much movement in the music in such a short song results in deeply interesting music that can succumb to eating its own tail.
Regardless of how much content BLACK PEAKS have desperately tried to get into their music, All That Divides benefits no end to the diverse and eclectic influences that make up its DNA. Where Statues cemented BLACK PEAKS as talented prospect All That Divides solidifies this notion tenfold. With elegant motifs next to raging post-hardcore riffs, BLACK PEAKS have harnessed their dynamic sound and channelled it into a well thought out and complete album that flows together like a mosaic and paints just a pretty picture. If you aren’t listening to BLACK PEAKS we ask only one question: Why not?
Rating: 9/10
All That Divides is out now via Rise Records.
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