Album Review: Divided By Friday - Prove It EP

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’.

This is a band that obviously loves what they do, and although their influences shine through a bit too clearly for their tones to be oozing individuality from every orifice, there is much life in the message of passion they preach and the fun way in which they pull it off.

4/5

'Prove It' EP is out August 30th through Hopeless Records.

Edward Strickson