{"id":47550,"date":"2014-12-20T12:17:59","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T17:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=47550"},"modified":"2014-12-20T12:17:59","modified_gmt":"2014-12-20T17:17:59","slug":"iris-divine-karma-sown-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/iris-divine-karma-sown-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Iris Divine | Karma Sown<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"IrisVirginia-based progressive metal trio Iris Divine returned late in 2014 with a new full-length album, their second to date, title Karma Sown<\/em>. Iris Divine is one of a select few American progressive metal bands (The Deadstation and The Great Gamble are two others) that when you hear them you\u2019re simply stunned that they\u2019re not signed to a major label and making a huge impact on the scene. They\u2019re immensely talented, not content to stay within the genre lines, and have released an album that can go head to head with any of the \u201cname\u201d prog metal albums this year.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t really put a band like Iris Divine in a box, but for the sake of comparison think Evergrey plus a less self-indulgent Symphony X with just a hint of Enchant. This is dark progressive metal that\u2019s as heavy sonically as it is lyrically (you\u2019re going to want to spend some time digesting vocalist\/guitsrist Navid Rashid\u2019s lyrics). Rashid\u2019s vocals are very strong and reminiscent of Russell Allen\u2019s at times. The musicianship is technical \u2013 that much at least is a requirement in this genre \u2013 but not in a way that breaks up the flow of the songs or the intense and emotional atmosphere this album has. They do cut loose on the instrumental \u201cIn Spirals\u201d though, and that one will have jaws dropping.<\/p>\n

Karma Sown<\/em> is a very cohesive overall experience, so calling out specific songs doesn\u2019t make much sense. There are eight songs on the album and they\u2019re all incredible. Still, if you\u2019re looking for that one song that captures the spirit of Iris Divine, \u201cApathy Rains\u201d is the one to sample. Karma Sown is an album that works best taken as a whole, preferably when you can listen to it without distractions and really take everything in.<\/p>\n

With luck, Karma Sown<\/em> will be the album that brings Iris Divine to the attention of the larger progressive metal audience (and perhaps the right people at InsideOut or a similar label). It\u2019s one of the absolute best progressive metal albums 2014 has to offer, and is highly recommended to any fan of the genre.<\/p>\n

PS \u2013 If you live in the DC metro area and have the chance to catch Iris Divine live, do not pass it by. They are every bit as intense and impressive on stage as they are on the album.<\/p>\n

Genre: Progressive Metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nNavid Rashid (v) (g)
\nBrian Dobbs (b)
\nKris Combs (d) (k)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tThe Everlasting Sea
\n2.\tFire of the Unknown
\n3.\tA Suicide Aware
\n4.\tMother\u2019s Prayer
\n5.\tPrisms
\n6.\tIn Spirals
\n7.\tApathy Rains
\n8.\tIn the Wake of Martyrs<\/p>\n

Label: Self-released<\/p>\n

Website: www.facebook.com\/irisdivine<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Virginia-based progressive metal trio Iris Divine returned late in 2014 with a new full-length album, their second to date, title Karma Sown. Iris Divine is one of […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":47551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,10445,10446,1098],"class_list":{"0":"post-47550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-iris-divine","10":"tag-karma-sown","11":"tag-progressive-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}