Divided By Friday - Prove It Review

Is it lazy to begin a review by comparing the band being reviewed to one of the most iconic bands to ever rise out of the scene? If it is, then I guess I’m a lazy guy, because Divided By Friday reminds me a lot of Fall Out Boy. It’s easy enough to see why, especially on the Prove It EP.

Lead singer and guitarist Jose Villanueva bears a host of similarities to Patrick Stump in the vocal department, as the opening title track makes clear. This isn’t a bad thing in any way; musically, Divided By Friday and Fall Out Boy don’t share many characteristics other than the fact that you could file them under the same general genre. With driven, distorted guitars, one could say the Prove It EP is a little heavier than even Fall Out Boy’s earlier work.

Villanueva’s steady, never-faltering vocals carry the band. Each of the six songs on the EP have soaring, memorable choruses that make it perfect for the end of summer. Divided By Friday is actually at its full force when Villanueva trades vocals with backup vocalist and guitarist Matt Morgan, like in the chorus of “The Dark Passenger.” The call-and-return style lends to the group’s guitar-oriented musicianship, proven again by potential single “Lost In Limbo.”

Prove It takes a turn for the cliché with “Face To Face,” featuring Tonight Alive frontwoman Jenna McDougall on guest vocals. While the song is one that has been copied plenty, it’s still an attractive number that provides a change of pace in the EP. “Face To Face” is a welcome addition to Prove It, if only to help the six songs avoid bleeding together. The closing song is entitled “Closer,” which almost makes me want to avoid mentioning it, but it really just follows the suit of the rest of the EP, provided a solid but safe ending.

Prove It presumably means that Divided By Friday thinks it’s time to take the next step in their progression. It’s time from the band to, cough, prove that they can hang with the big boys on Hopeless’ roster. And while the Fall Out Boy comparison might be lazy, it’s accurate and it’s not negative. With Prove It, Divided By Friday shows that it can clearly write a multitude of catchy pop-punk numbers, integrating accessible vocals with driven, guitar-oriented melodies. It might not be the most original release, but that hasn’t stopped me from having it on repeat for the past week and a half – and I doubt it will stop soon-to-be fans from enjoying it either....full text Divided By Friday claim to be a band that stands out from the rest as one who demand a passion for their art above all else. Certainly this is a stance all bands would like to take, but can the North Carolina pop-punk quartet match the standard they have set themselves with such a seemingly honest claim?

Well ‘Growing Up’ certainly showcases honesty throughout its heartfelt lyrics, Jose Villanueva’s vocals carrying these carefully thought out words with an undeniable passion. The Fall Out Boy influence is clear in his vocal style, however, there is enough variation here, especially with the strength of Matt Morgan’s vocals to carry it off without sounding too similar to their late and aforementioned influence.

There are strong moments in the instrumentation as well; case in point, ‘The Dark Passenger’, a track that contains so much meat in its guitar riffs and blasting, drum-heavy chorus that you could be forgiven for thinking you were at a steak bar, although the tenderness of the meat does not suffer for this, it remains as heartfelt as ever.

Okay, enough with that analogy.

Divided By Friday is an obvious asset to a genre that seemed to have gone stale a long time ago; in fact you would be pushed to find a well-established pop-punk band that sounds as relevant. Panic At The Disco come almost close whereas bands such as All Time Low have committed crimes against music in the time since they rose to fame.

And even someone as estranged from this particular side of music as I can appreciate the strong musicianship and tightness of this obviously hard-working quartet, and you’d be pushed to find any music fan that doesn’t empathize with the stripped down power of ‘Face To Face’....full text 10 years ago, the music genre Emo was growing fast and seemed like it could conquer the world with every kid dressing in black and having the same haircuts. Today, it feels like noone want to touch the name Emo even with a blow torch. The idea of being an emo fan in 2011 is kinda embarrasing, most emo acts today prefer to be labeled as pop/rock. Still I don´t think they sound a bit different compared to the bands being big in 2005. Anyway, Divided By Friday released a pretty good EP entitled "The constant" and now they´re rocking again with the brand new single "Prove it" which is a good party stomper for fans of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance....full text