System Divide: The Conscious Sedation

The very notion of Sven de Caluwé creating anything with melody is almost unfathomable. The Aborted frontman is known for creating some of the most violent and brutal death metal ever heard. However, System Divide, de Caluwé’s well-balanced new project, unites melody and brutality in equal measure on their debut album, The Conscious Sedation. Much of the melodic credit goes to the excellent, clean singing of de Caluwé’s wife, ex-Distorted frontwoman Miri Milman. Her vocals are the perfect foil to de Caluwé’s growls and roars, mirroring the balance in the compositions between brutal, technical death metal and melodic gothic metal. The instrumentation is excellent, performed by current and former members of Abigail Williams, Aborted, Malignancy, and many other top-notch metal bands. The Conscious Sedation is a unique album that all melodic death metal fans should check out.