For those in need of a disc to spin this coming Halloween to scare the children, or simply can't get enough of clanging percussion and synth noise, this may fit the bill. For the rest of us…not so much.
Division One isn't quite sure what it wants to be. Throughout the 9 untitled tracks, Sistrenatus bounces from subgenre to subgenre and never quite falls into one place. The first couple would fit right in as the ambient sound on the latest installment of Saw or Hostel—all heavily reverbed metallic creaks and groans, secure metal doors slamming shut from afar, distant voices in the darkness, and some occasional muffled breathing sounds cutting through—but by the end we're inundated with newsreel and dialog samples, militaristic snare loops and robotic noise tones, which may or may not cause any listener to go on a wild goose chase for someone named Sarah Connor.
The middle elements are a bit less cliché, leaning heavily on analog noise textures, distorted feedback and the occasional shouty indecipherable vocal lines. Add in the occasional bass synth sequence and crashing metal percussion and here's something the Tesco crowd falls head over heels for.
The greatest limitation of this work is that it doesn't do anything different for the overall genre that hasn't already been done. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, it is a very competent work. The problem is that fans of this style of music probably already have a few discs that are along the same lines as Division One. Considering this is a debut album, there’s always time for growth and maturation, so hopefully the next Sistrenatus will stand more on its own, rather than just lurking in the shadows with other pale faces and well worn reverb units.
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