The Divorce – The Gifted Program / 2005 Made In Mexico / 10 Tracks / http://www.thedivorce.net / http://www.madeinmexicorecords.com / Reviewed 14 July 2005

The Divorce plays an interesting style of music, mixing together the dance of the eighties (bands like New Order) with the hard rocking sound of bands (depending on where on the disc one is listening) like Franz Ferdinand (Cash Machine) and Local H (Yes!). Taking on the vocals of The Bravery and Jet for the aforementioned “Cash Machine”, the former Acceptance member Garrett trapezes through different vocal tenors and sounds through the entirety of “The Gifted Program”. Something that listeners will continually hear on “The Gifted Program” are the insanely hair-metal like guitar riffs; where they may sound contrived and cliché on a metal band’s album, the riffs really double the vocals present on tracks like “Call The Police”.

In an odd coincidence, owing much to the fact that the tempo on the track is stretched out, “Doctors and Friends” has an aural similarity to the entirety of the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack. This comparison disappears slowly as the guitars, themselves reminiscent of early-nineties alternative rock, gradually become more chaotic. The nexus of Rage Against The Machine and Radiohead is found by the screeching guitars present on “Air Traffic Control”. The Divorce on this track go back to perhaps their most oft-tapped font of inspiration: the days of bands like Collective Soul, Tad, and the like. What is The Divorce’s strongest suit is their ability to pick out various pieces and parts – a band of junk collectors – from bands and bolster their own sound by these inclusions. Thus, tracks like “Deny! Deny! Deny!” has a rockabilly-meets-Fear Factory style of vocals to kick up the tempo while the guitars firmly plant themselves in a rock paradigm.

The overarching vocals present on “Houses in Hurricane” are quaint, having the yelp present in many an eighties’ pop song, even as the guitars are of the same piecemeal-yet-current sound that have blessed the disc up to this point. “Be Quiet”, “The Gifted Program’s” penultimate track shows The Divorce grappling with what has to be their biggest challenge; after rocking without abandon through the tracks on the disc, the band does admirably in creating an emotive and distinct track that elicits the best from the band members. While there may not be much in the way of radio-destined tracks on “The Gifted Program”, there will be more than enough to sate listeners of any stripe.

Top Tracks: Fishing With The Party Sharks, Cash Machine

Rating: 5.9/10