EP Review: Elysian Divide – Beast (Self Released)

A world coming down from the incursion of nu metal, juxtaposed with the pop-friendly feel-good factor of cliché pop bands with heavy downtuned guitars is where female fronted Elysian Divide draws a line in the sand. While everything that was original is celebrated with come-back tours of our ancient metal ancestors, Elysian Divide seeks to redress the balance and do something a little more innovative. Somewhere between heaven and hell is where you will find Elysian Divide.

Citing many divergent influences including Pantera, Machine Head, Insomnium, In Flames and Dimmu Borgir, Elysian Divide’s sound aims to augment the heavy with the beautifully melodic. This is combined with a fiery female vocal which is signature to their sound.

Formed early 2016, they began working on their first songs for the live set. These were chronicled in 2018’s debut album, Face Behind The Mask and the music video for Love Is War. Writing immediately resumed for the follow up release. This culminated in the latest EP Beast due for release on October 31st 2019. Beast further endorses the mission parameters of Elysian Divide with a wealth of metal styles contributing to their overall sound: groove, melody, atmosphere with a nod to even black metal.

Beginning with a bang, Loser brings the riffs and a hell of a catchy rhythm to get the head banging immediately. Then with some serious fire in her belly, vocalist Atashi Tada arrives to tear shit up. I can’t praise her voice enough, she is class and this is a classy groove metal opener.

Inspired By Hate keeps things just as strong, an epic chorus with ringing guitars backing up the vocals perfectly. Before we get some really deep chug briefly.

Slap bang in the middle is a cover of Radiohead’s Street Spirit, a band and a track I have never cared for. So truth be told, Elysian Divide’s cover doesn’t do much for me either. However, I can confidently say it’s a good cover.

The second half of the album brings us Beast and Storm. Two tracks that, going off the titles should be raging numbers and unsurprisingly that is the case. The former has this wicked jerky and rough sounding guitar groove that crops up throughout. While the latter has the added touch of more operatic vocals which add an extra layer to things.

A banging EP.

Elysian Divide – Beast Full Track Listing:

1. Loser
2. Inspired By Hate
3. Street Spirit (Radiohead Cover)
4. Beast
5. Storm

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