With their latest offering, Dark Divine, Like Moths To Flames have unleashed forty minutes of Warped Tour flavoured metalcore upon the world. The Columbus, Ohio quartet have been a prolific force throughout their career, this release will mark their fourth full length in just six years. This time with a little help from Beartooth frontman Caleb Shomo on mixing duties.
It’s business as usual on opening track ‘New Plagues’ which comes creeping into life with synths that recall Bring Me The Horizon circa 2010, before dropping into thick, djent-esque guitar work. It’s a heavy introduction to a song that is mostly comprised of a soaringly melodic chorus. They certainly start as they mean to go on, and each track explodes into a chorus seemingly bigger than the last. Heavier moments feel tacked on, coming across as little more than manufactured aggression to incite mosh pits at next summer’s Warped Tour. Tracks like ‘Nowhere Left To Sink’ and ‘Empty The Same’ make the biggest impact without the addition of unclean vocals.
Production-wise this collection of tracks retains the grittiness all too often missing from their peers, it’s a welcome change to truly appreciate the proficiency of the rhythm section on a record such as this. At forty minutes the barrage of towering choruses and cookie-cutter breakdowns does become tiresome, for fans of the band’s previous work there’s no doubt this time will pass a lot quicker.
On Dark Divine Like Moths To Flame epitomise their scene and show why they’ve been one of the most prevailing forces within it. There may be nothing new brought to the table fourth time around, but it’s well put together, digestible and it’ll have fans revelling in some new sing-alongs.