Usually, I get metal albums to review (duh), more specifically, extreme metal. So whenever I get the chance to review a record that ventures out of that category, I'm very curious and skeptical at the same time. This was the case with the new CHAOSTAR LP as well, and well...

The band tried to build mostly on two things with this effort. Atmosphere and vocals. The vocals are quite operatic, while the atmosphere mostly revolves around more eastern type neo-classical instrumentalization with a little bit of ambient thrown in there somewhere. Sounds good, right? Well, it really isn't honestly. It may be just me, but I always expect some harmless beauty, some more menacing build-up sections or breakdowns and an epic and memorable musical peak, and overall a monumentalistic approach.This record however, fails me on pretty much all of that. A lot of the instrumentals are very minimalistic and quiet, especially on the second and third tracks ("Blutbard" and "Stones and Dust") to the point where those songs become mere build-ups to the title-track, which is alright, and more grandiose, but still not that punch that I was looking for.

The next composition, "Memniso" is a hot mess in a very bad way. I feel like they didn't put much conscious effort into the songwriting itself, they just did what came to mind, thinking it will become an exciting and unpredictable experience. It didn't. I also didn't like the vocals on here, they felt kinda annoying, but that's not really any kind of criticism, opera is just not my cup of tea.

But it would still be unfair to say that the LP has no artistic merit and is complete garbage. The opening song for instance, is a legit great song with good composition and vocal delivery. So is the second half of the longest track, "Silent Yard" with some really cool keyboards, percussion, guitars and horns. So yeah, "The Undivided Light" is a hit-or-miss record, I honestly couldn't recommend it to anyone who is looking for what I do in classical music.