 
It has been a massive 5 years since Twin Atlantic
blasted their way on the music scene with their
amazing debut EP ‘Vivarium’ and a
huge 3 years since the release of their ever so
successful debut album ‘Free’ and
since then the band have taken the UK, Europe
and pretty much the rest of the world by storm
with their stadium rock anthems as they have played
massive festival shows, embarked on various sold
out headline tours and also found themselves sharing
the stage with the likes of Bruce Springsteen,
Foo Fighters, Blink 182, Thirty Seconds To Mars
and also touring across the States on the infamous
Warped Tour.
Twin Atlantic are now back and are set to release
their second studio album ‘Great Divide’
on the 18th August on Red Bull records, the album
was produced by Jacknife Lee and long-time collaborator
Gil Norton and was mainly written in the back
on the bands tour bus in-between lengthy tours
and festival appearances.
If you managed to check out the single ‘Heart
And Soul’ which was released a couple of
months ago as a teaser for the album then you
will already be full of high hopes for ‘Great
Divide’ as ‘Heart And soul’
was an instant smash hit being titled the hottest
record in the world on BBC Radio 1 and generally
leaving a massive smile on the face of the listeners.
The album opens with the ‘The Ones I Love’
which is a soft and gentle introduction where
the instruments are toned down to a real bare
minimum as Sam McTrusty sings his little heart
out with his finest Scottish accent with his vocals
sounding clearer and stronger than ever.
This is followed up quickly by the anthemic single
‘Heart And soul’ and I swear each
time I listen to the song it grows on me even
more and I have a feeling that it is the kind
of song to go down in the history books and never
grow old or boring as there is just so much style
and passion flowing throughout the whole song.
‘Hold On’ see’s the band go
all slow on us but when the chorus kicks in the
song fully comes to life in a powerful way. ‘Fall
Into The Party’ is a banging number and
instantly going to be a live favourite thanks
to the infectious lyrics of “yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah” and the general speed and passion
running throughout the song. ‘Brothers And
Sisters’ is a beautiful song which builds
up over time and is musically brilliant and lyrically
so truthful and close to many people’s hearts.
‘Oceans’ sees the band fully slow
things down as they go down the soppy ballad route
with Sam McTrusty singing “I don’t
want to live, I don’t want to die”
and “drifting between my favourite bars
all those nights I have been there for you”.
One of the best songs on the album has to be
‘I Am An Animal’ as the song is so
fast and heavy and just shows off how much Twin
Atlantic have come on since their debut EP ‘Vivarium’
five years ago and once the chorus kicks in the
song will instantly get you into a big party mood
as Sam Mctrusty and Barrry McKenna make some serious
sounds with their guitars.
The majority of the tracks on ‘The Great
Divide’ are massive rock n’ roll stadium
anthems but Twin Atlantic has also reverted to
their more serious side for some slow numbers
like ‘Be A Kid’, ‘Rest In Pieces’
and album closer ‘Why Won’t We Change’.
Most bands always find second albums difficult
and a lot always fail to live up to the high expectations
but I feel with ‘The Great Divide’
that Twin Atlantic have taken their time and really
thought about things and have created an album
which is a bit two sided in the way that half
of the album is full of anthemic stadium anthems
and the other half of the album is full of slow
paced rock ballads yet they are mixed up so well
that the album becomes a breeze to listen to and
one that I can imagine people having on heavy
rotation for days, weeks, months and possible
years to come.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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