The Sofia-based outfit, comprising guitarist-composer Bozhidar Popov, lyricist Marie-Louise Anastas, and vocalist Siegfried Schüßler, have crafted what they themselves describe as "a music theorist's dream," and therein lies both the promise and the problem. This is progressive metal that wears its complexity like a badge of honour, shifting through time signatures and scales with the restless energy of a band convinced that technical prowess alone can forge emotional connection.
Schüßler's vocals carry the necessary gravitas for the song's theme of internal struggle, his delivery reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson's theatrical bombast filtered through a more continental sensibility. When he soars above Popov's intricate fretwork, there are genuine moments where the song transcends its self-conscious cleverness and touches something more elemental. The influence of Iron Maiden is worn rather heavily on the sleeve – perhaps too heavily – but there's enough of Metallica's rhythmic brutality and Manowar's epic scope to suggest a band with broader ambitions than mere tribute act status.
The track's central conceit – that internal battles can be mapped through complex musical structures – is hardly revolutionary, but Rage Unfold execute it with sufficient conviction to make their point. The "rhythmic changes" they cite as the song's hook do indeed provide moments of genuine surprise, though one occasionally yearns for the band to trust in simplicity's power rather than always reaching for the next theoretical flourish.
"My Division" succeeds as a calling card – a statement of intent from musicians who clearly possess both technical ability and conceptual ambition. Whether it succeeds as a song that will lodge itself in listeners' consciousness beyond its initial academic intrigue remains to be seen. For now, it represents promising foundations upon which a more distinctive musical identity might yet be built.
This is music that surely benefits from the immediacy of a concert hall, where technical complexity can be transmuted into visceral experience. Until then, "My Division" stands as an accomplished exercise in progressive metal craftsmanship – impressive in its construction, if not quite transcendent in its emotional impact.
