INDEPENDENT HARMONY

During last decade Poland became a home for the best world-class heavy rock bands, as Riverside or Indukti. So, I am just trying to check all possible new heavy/prog metal releases from this country, happily I need just one and half hour for gettin' there by car.

It is my first Division By Zero album, so I can't compare it with their other works. After very first album's song I was seriously worried - competent heavy metal, with some progressivity elements, great vocals ( a little bit a-la Bruce Dickinson), growling, but nothing original at all. One more quality clone?

Then things gone better. Less boring-to-death trashing, much more melodies, dark ,even atmospheric sound. Great drumming, competent guitars. Really better than average vocals.

For sure, they are not on the league of Riverside, but borrowed very melodic sound from former. Not too many elements of progressivity, but very competent sound for classic prog metal fans.

After few decades of my active interest to heavy metal/heavy prog music I became a bad critic of this genre - myriads of clones can kill everyone's interest to that music. So - I really like this music if there is something new in every new album and the music is played by excellent musicians. Unhappily such situation is extremely rare nowadays.

Division By Zero's new album is no exception. Some power metal influences and gothic-bombastic sound really didn't make their music better. So, a bit better than average prog metal album for me. But metalheadz could easily add one more star to evaluation.

I had high expectations for Division By Zero's second album. Their debut was an exceptionally strong progressive metal album with influences ranging from Opeth and Riverside to Faith No More and Evergrey. The only thing missing to make a masterpiece from it would be a little more maturity and more personal style.

Now, when it comes to that Independent Harmony is a failure. Instead of developing the elements that made them stand out above the pack, they removed them! Gone are the attractive Faith No More influences in the vocals, gone are most of the Gothic elements that made them challenge Evergrey at being the darkest power metal band. All that is left is a formulaic product that seems to come from a metal assembly line: featuring the required powerhouse sound, the expected gruff and emo vocals, the technical riff galore and rollercoaster tempos.

The songs are ok but there's little that makes them noteworthy, and a lot that makes them routine and commercial. So I have to agree entirely with Snobb before me. Good product but faceless, and at least one star less then the marvellous debut.

"Independent Harmony" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Polish progressive metal act Division By Zero. The album was released through Prog Team in April 2010. Division By Zero was formed in 2003. Their original run ended in 2013 when they disbanded. They released two studio albums during their 10 years together. "Tyranny of Therapy (2007)" and "Independent Harmony (2010)". There´s been one lineup change since "Tyranny of Therapy (2007)" as bassist Michal Wieczorek has been replaced by Maciej Foryta.

Stylistically the material on "Independent Harmony" is pretty much a continuation of the progressive metal style of "Tyranny of Therapy (2007)". So Division By Zero´s brand of progressive metal which features both technically challenging instrumetal sections, melancholic atmospheric parts, and the occasional death metal growl is intact. The band have grown as composers though, and they´ve also honed their already considerable playing/singing skills even more since the debut. Slawek Wierny has a strong voice and a convincing delivery, which isn´t far removed from the sound and style of Mariusz Duda (Riverside). His growling vocals are not as interesting, but they get the job done, when a more aggressive atmosphere is called for. Personally I think the album would have been stronger without them though.

"Independent Harmony" features 7 tracks and a full playing time of 44:03 minutes. The material is very well written. The tracks are generally complex in structure but still catchy and memorable, and the combination of atmosphere, technical wizardry, and heavy riffs and rhythms work really well. "Independent Harmony" also feautures a professional, clear, and detailed sound production which suits the material well, so upon conclusion it is a high quality release and a great sophomore album by Division By Zero. They aren´t necessarily the most unique sounding progressive metal act on the scene, but they deliver their music with great skill and conviction and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)