Divided By Zero – The Black Sea / 2006 Corporate Punishment / 15 Tracks / http://www.dividedbyzero.tv / http://www.sikworld.com / Reviewed 19 July 2006

Divided By Zero comes out on their “The Black Sea” with a number of different styles and approaches for getting individuals into their music. For example, during “Ashes of Armies”, Divided By Zero mixes a punk and a ska style to immediately become one with their fans. “Chemical” plays for a different market, this time to all of the nu-rockers that like bands like Switched and Godsmack. At both points, Divided by Zero play the style of music that they approach well enough to be firmly in the middle of the pack for the bands in that genre.

The production shifts slightly through the tracks on “The Black Sea”, but all provide the same safety net for Divided by Zero. Thus, during the Foo Fighters-sounding “Damn the Dream” (has a hint of Disturbed in it as well), the band is able to rich certain points with their vocals and guitars that many less experienced producers would not typically allow. The only thing that can immediately be said about Divided By Zero is the fact that the band does not allow their own style to shine nearly as much as they could on the disc. A lot of the disc shows the band “as” someone else, trying their hand at a completely new style. As previously said, the band succeeds during each of these exercises on “The Black Sea”, but are left without a general sound that one can immediately associate with Divided By Zero. “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” is another of the tracks that show that Divided By Zero can play a number of styles of music but does not give much in the way of clues for where the band would be if they immediately went forward not under the influence of their influences.

The band finally gives listeners some of an idea of their general sound as the disc keeps going, as tracks like “Drowning Not Waving” continue with the same type of rock sound that has been flirted with at different points during “The Black Sea”. The band needs to do a few more things before they can start achieving critical success. The first (and most major) thing has to be pushing forward material that keeps with their general sound but also tries new things. I’m not asking for twelve different styles on a twelve-song disc, but just merely throwing in different influences during “The Black Sea” and allowing the band to work them into a general sound would be a large achievement.

Top Tracks: Helicopter, Chemical

Rating: 4.5/10

[JMcQ]