“Our aim was always to make music this size,” Twin Atlantic frontman Sam McTrusty has said.
And, from listening to the album as a whole, ‘this size’ should be no lesser than the greatest of heights.
A monolith piece of pop-rock magic is ‘Great Divide‘, still complete with a full-on rampage that captures the adrenaline of their raucous live shows, but now also the love and harmony that knits the stitches closer to how down to earth yet oddly ethereal this band can be.
‘Great Divide’ stands as a reason to believe in a band that care about the intimidation, interrogation and intimacy of love torn apart when headlocks and heartbreak provide energy to relationships. Rabid and hyper, surreal and edgy, it is the Glaswegian interpretation of intelligent pop music we all like to survive. A divide of good and evil, more like a dynamo of sound that explodes and unfolds in 12 great tunes.
‘The Ones That I Love’, a slow-starter, pulsates like a flickering light in the corner of a darkened room. Trademark Scottish accent in place, the melodies are sharp, strict and lush. ‘Heart and Soul’ is perhaps the proper introduction to the album; a beastly and skittish tune packaged with sexy atmospherics that moan as though unawake, something we imagine is real in our darkest dreams. A fat bass battles with screeching guitars, but then a radio-friendly chorus kicks in. Powerful yes, but pop all the same, melodic and so cheesy, yet the volume and velocity of the instruments approve it as authentic music.
The balance of black and white couldn’t be more perfect. Twin Atlantic have always been a cinematic band, and it shows. The album’s art depicts flags raised in their name, announcing an arrival. An arrival playing tunes such as ‘Hold On’ that bust in a ferocious yet euphoric moment of too much emotion, everything riding high when holding the hand of the ones we love. The stadiums are alight with jubilation, a generator producing nothing but progression and positivity. So far, so good. The tracks deliver a feverish syndrome of confidence that adds some snarl to the most enchanting of lullabies.
The band have certainly grown some balls. And that growth has transmitted all its potential and dynamism into the brutish yet beautiful nature of the tunes. Sometimes fragile, often bigger than the spectacle of planets colliding in outer-space. That’s not to say their debut, ‘Free’, didn’t have the quality or quantity of such dreamland landscapes, but the difference now is they have songs like ‘Fall Into The Party’ under their belts, a kaleidoscopic eyeful of wonder that makes the skin crawl with masterful studio wizardry and a wall of unbreakable, unbeatable sounds.
They’re still a band that provides surprises, adding a jagged touch to a straight edge, but also now melodies are as moving as they are menacing. Occasionally, the album slips into a series of utter anthems. ‘Oceans’ and ‘Be a Kid’ are ones for cigarette lighters, for the adolescent socialite punks witnessing dust settle at dawn with a thick, Scottish accent that comes with a sincere rasp and a remarkable method to telling a crushing story, whereas ‘I Am an Animal’ races forward faster than a supersonic bullet shot from a deadly revolver, with chaotic drums and cutting guitar stabs that display too much spiral to stay in control.
‘Great Divide’ really is great, and equally divided to. That’s not to say the album is split into halves of sounds, concepts and ideas, but the tracks have different pinches of personalities. Various strands of pop, rock and hardcore DNA firmly within the bones. Bodies and brains capable of cramming tiny venues where sweat, blood and, most likely, tears drip down from the ceilings.
On the other hand, the red carpet is now littered with rose petals, ready to be unfurled before arenas as Twin Atlantic prepare for a world only the most original, interesting and iconic of bands dare enter.
