Album Review: In Hearts Wake - Divination

In what has fast become an overcrowded scene with so many hardcore/metal bands throughout Australia and the world, it is becoming increasingly harder to stand out and create a unique sound. However, Byron Bay's In Hearts Wake is the perfect example of defying this trend and seems certain to follow in the path laid by fellow Byron boys Parkway Drive. Their 34-minute, 11 track debut, Divination (recorded in Michigan, USA), is a solid sounding record.

Although it may at first sound like a generic metalcore release, after a few listens you can grasp at the direction the band has gone in mixing the elements of hardcore/metal with clean vocals, which makes you want to keep on listening. There are many highlights; none moreso than Survival (The Chariot) where the screams of “Motherfucker bounce!” offset one vicious breakdown. The guest vocalists featured on the album include the aforementioned Parkway Drive's Winston McCall in the track Departure (Death), one of the heaviest tracks. The band's softer and more melodic capabilities are showcased perfectly in the track Inertia (The Hermit) – a soft and slower song with pianos and clean vocals taking the lead, with not one scream to be heard and lyrics that grasp: “Take time move forward…for what?”

While Divination at its peak is not a groundbreaking release, it is a very consistent sounding record that offers many highlights through its entirety. Although it shows the influence of other bands in the same genre, they have created their own hard-hitting sound that should see In Hearts Wake join the cream of Australia's metalcore crop.