PAINDIVISION: One Path

Released: September 27

With so many bands around all trying to either be certain things, break new ground or present the latest version of what's trendy, its refreshing to see there are still acts around just playing no frills heavy metal. Sydney's Paindivision is one of those bands, a band whose momentum should only gain impetus with their second album in just over a year showing plenty of development and maturity.

Paindivision's brand of straight-up heavy metal puts them somewhere in the ball park inhabited by groups like Motörhead and Accept. The production is stripped down, but clean and heavy with loud guitars churning out a good solid collection of meaty and catchy hooks. And while this is very much a guitar album, it benefits from a killer drum mix that shows off Joe Rahme's chops in this department. Several of the tracks have punchy drum intros paving the way for Stu Marshall's crunching guitar. Jordan Howe's vocals are raw and unadorned, harsh and angry with a style reminiscent of Dreadnaught, a band that these guys can sometimes sound rather like, particularly in their more aggressive moments. This technique doesn't always seem to gel with the more melodic aspects of Paindivision and Howe isn't quite as powerful as Greg Trull; conversely, however, his melodic voice in "Of Flame and Fury" is really quite effective, possibly because it just sounds so different. I could see the harshness of Howe's voice actually being a bit of a turn-off to some, which would be a shame because One Path simply abounds in good old fashioned headbanging metal.

"Flames of the Reaper" is a ball-tearer straight up, a furious ripping metal track with Howe in full cry and Marshall peeling off lightning fast guitar licks. "Face It" is also fast and heavy with a good hook and a nice "Fast" Eddie Clark-style solo in the intro. Indeed this type of description sums up a good proportion of the tracks on One Path as the band draws from its love of classic heavy metal to serve up chunks of driving, catchy riffage like that in "Nightmare" or the stumbling, dirty blues-inspired "Wasting Life". Marshall's leads are sweet and his melody lines in the cover of "Balls to the Wall" actually sound rather like Gary Moore's Wild Frontier era with a hint of him in the closing instrumental "The Victory March" also. Paindivision has put together another good album here, paying respects to their influences but doing very much their own thing and while the vocals might not be to everyone's taste it is otherwise hard to fault.

One Path is one hard hitting heavy metal album.

1. The Gates of Ashen Wake
2. Flames of the Reaper
3. Face It
4. Beyond the Pain
5. Nightmare
6. Wasting Life
7. One Path
8. Of Flame and Fury
9. Balls to the Wall
10. The Victory March
11. Unchain Me (live)

Rating: 82%