Rockfreaks.net

A Life [Divided]

Passenger

Written by: PP on 24/01/2011 05:10:28

Do you find yourself waving the fist at Linkin Park for going all electronic/indie rock experimental and shit, abandoning their origins as the nu metal kings with their third album "Minutes To Midnight" and even more so with the mediocre "A Thousand Suns" last year? If so, I have an album here which will take you all the way back to the era between 2000 and 2004, when nu-metal was a commercial success and you couldn't turn on a rock radio without hearing the latest Trapt single.

The record in question is called "Passenger" by a Munich, Germany based band A Life [Divided], and it's basically a shameless clone of "Meteora"-era Linkin Park, with the exception of some added electronic elements. Not necessarily DJ-stuff or anything like that, but effects nonetheless that make the comparison obvious. "Heart On Fire", for instance, is like directly lifted from that specific record: it has a huge, sweeping chorus on top of otherwise extremely simple chord-based instrumentation. Mainstream, sure, but also pretty good. "Forever" and "Anyone" continue suit, but from here onwards A Life [Divided] are on a downhill slope to obscurity. They begin to sound like b-sides to Linkin Park records because the vocal melodies and guitar hooks just aren't as good as on the songs I've mentioned, plus we have to keep in mind that the whole electronic nu-metal thing really did die a horrible, painful, slow death for a reason, one that becomes awfully clear as we reach the last notes of "Passenger".

There's also a cover of Alphaville's "Sounds Like A Melody", which is pretty decent, but a weird choice for this record in my opinion. It doesn't need it, especially when it hasn't been placed as the last track of the album as it should have been. A few songs like "Hey You" raise an eyebrow or two, but the overall impression is still not as positive as I would've hoped. After all, despite their sellout status, Linkin Park was a good band and surprisingly few have emulated their sound successfully to date. A Life [Divided] (what is it with those brackets?) come pretty close to doing a good job, but more songs like "Heart On Fire" are needed to convince an incredibly skeptical audience they are bound to face night in night out.

Download: Heart On Fire, Anyone, Hey You
For the fans of: Linkin Park, Eisbrecher, Stabbing Westward, Filter (industrial era)
Listen: Myspace

Release date 28.01.2011
AFM Records