ALBUM REVIEW: Slow Burn – Conquer Divide

Calling your sophomore album eight years in the making Slow Burn might be a bit on the nose, but CONQUER DIVIDE are nothing if not determined and, a few years after their return from a short hiatus, ready to hit the ground running again. While their self-titled debut in 2015 turned a few heads in the metalcore scene, it was (expectedly) unrefined. There was promise, certainly, but while there were standouts in their fusion of metalcore with anthemic hard rock, it still felt like there was some key component missing, perhaps ironic given its cover art. 

With their second album Slow Burn, though, the quintet are not only revitalised but that fusion works considerably better. As cliche as it is, it does feel that the band have leaned further into both their snarling metalcore side while still writing bigger hooks than before. Case in point, opener Atonement kicks off with a chugging riff, while vocalist Janel Duarte summons a full-throated roar. Kia Castillo’s sung choruses put those hook-writing skills to use with their soaring melody. Newheaven switches things up immediately, putting electronic elements front and centre to start before once more letting loose a huge, arena-ready chorus.

The synths and other electronic elements throughout help elevate the songs, pushing the sonic envelope into more ambient and atmospheric territories, effectively adding additional texture and depth to the songs. In particular, welcome2paradise is buoyed by the backing ambience, lending additional weight to the warnings of environmental disaster. The drumming has been taken up a notch too, thunderous fills and groove that underpin songs like Pressure’s heart-on-sleeve choruses. Izzy Johnson and Kristen Sturgis have plenty of standout moments throughout, the aforementioned Pressure benefiting from both stellar leads and crunching riffing, while Duarte turns in a particularly gut-wrenching, emotional performance.

The first half of the album concludes with system_failure, whose glitchy breakdown, vocal interplay and ludicrous hooks have all the hallmarks of a future live staple; it’s a fantastic encapsulation of the heavier side of CONQUER DIVIDE without sacrificing that arena potential, and is one of the best songs on Slow Burn. The band don’t let the quality dip as they lead into the second half either; afterthought.wav is all metalcore fire, vitriolic roars and double bass drumming, while the INVISIBLE pivots to a forlorn, string-backed rock ballad. Slow Burn closes with gAtEkEePer, an awful-to-type name but a stellar song that charts the opposition the band have faced and their perseverance in the face of it. 

While CONQUER DIVIDE aren’t reinventing the wheel sonically, Slow Burn is still an extremely accomplished album; a step up from their self-titled in every way, it manages to both dial up intensity when it’s heavy, and stay as anthemic and intent on getting choruses stuck in your head as they’ve always been. Those choruses are also far better now, skyscraper hooks delivered with conviction. The end result is that while Slow Burn is a huge step up for CONQUER DIVIDE and while it took a while to arrive, it’s been worth the wait. 

Rating: 8/10

Slow Burn is set for release on September 8th via Mascot Records.

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