ProgRock.com Essentials 2026
Montreal divinators seek deliverance from the human race to dissolve darkness in velveteen distress.
– Divided By One
Some may assume the presence of a familiar figure on this record’s cover is too on the nose, yet fear not because Crimson King will appear to be but a red herring, which doesn’t mean there’s no fugue state on the Canadian ensemble’s fourth offering in as many years. With its title suggesting futility and fatality so typical for inner conflicts, there’s a burning sense of self in the platter’s gloom that’s alleviated by unexpected stylistic details rendering some of its pieces alien for prog rock Jeremie Arrobas and Thomas Szirmay chose as their playground. Delivering “Divided By One” after "Imperfect Silence" – whose music first seemed to show the two friends’ disregard for their chosen genre’s frontiers and mold a proper collective out of their duo – as a fearsome foursome, with renowned American bassist Hansford Rowe and fellow Québécois, axeman Alain Bellaiche fully embedded in the band, they finally got to the place "The Hierarchies Of Angels" pointed to.
While the main pair operate what “Screaming Sound Machines” frames as devious devices for psychological healing and while Steve Bonino’s guitars add urgency to this underworldly upbeat dirge that’s throbbing with heavy menace and the clang of tubular bells, titular opener enlivens a similarly sinful setup, high on electronica, through a bluegrass filigree to enhance the album’s oxymoronic allure. Still, even such a welcoming salvo can’t prepare the audience for the reggae ripple surging from the Mordor-dark depths of “Chaos Dreaming” whose effects-stricken balladry will get embroidered with Bellaiche’s exquisite acoustic threads and Rowe’s supple rub-a-dub rumble and move away from new-wave and towards gorgeous pop music. In its wake, the fittingly irresistible “Sirensong” crawls like a creepy march suspended in polyphonic stasis, and an equally romantic “Pool Of Mirrors” proposes a refrain destined to stick in the listener’s head for a long time, whereas “Heaven’s Rain” and “Heavy Water” – the gentle former wrapping heartbeat in organ roar, and the ghostly latter featuring Roland Buhlmann’s fluid six strings – chase thunder into nuanced transparency.
And then there are the magnificent mini-epic “Inviolate Fields” in which Laura Piazzai’s stunning vocalese is ascending a stairway to the great gig in the sky supported by Szirmay and Arrobas’s mesmerizing sonic passages, and the cover of “Are ‘Friends’ Electric” which pitches a retrofuturistic vibe into the not-too-sci-fi finale. That’s the destination the fragments of “Divided By One” lead to: an arresting, albeit perilous, goal promising and producing an enjoyably frightening journey.
*****
