When was the last time that *any* sort of memorable music came out of Japan?  The endless string of jpop clones like Ayumi Hamasaki, Megumi Hayashibara and Namie Amuro?  The hit-or-miss composers of anime music like Yoko Kanno, Shiro Sagisu and Yuki Kajiura?  The quirky whateveryouwanttocallit music from eX-girl or Pizzicato Five?  Wrong, wrong and wrong.  More often than not, that's all we know about from the Land of the Rising Sun, and let me just say here and now that Vio System Divide is the band that could bring that to an end.

    Japan is certainly not known for its rock music.  I've heard quite a bit of it, from the '80s hair rock of Loudness to the '90s grunge stylings of Super Junky Monkey and the new generation of "jrock" bands like Dir en Gray and Nanase Aikawa.  This is nothing like that at all.  Vio System Divide, while not the most original band around, has crafted a fantastic mix of nu-metal, grind and prog into something wholly different than all three.  I think maybe the closest approximations may be stuff from The Devin Townsend Band or perhaps Project: Failing Flesh.  There are blast beats aplenty on A Subliminal Spirit..., nice clean vocals, heavy grooves and a few electronic noises to boot.  It's unexpected and awesome.

    Without question, the highlight of the disc is the title track, with a pounding low-end groove, some keyboard atmospherics and the powerful voice of guitarist u1-skemaz.  His singing style is somewhere between James Hetfield and Wayne Static, but with better range and clarity.  The guitar lines that he and lead guitarist Chikara lay down aren't super-technical (i.e. Dillinger Escape Plan or December), but they're tight and drive the songs along without ever getting boring.  The rhythm section, comprised of blast-beat-loving drummer Taisho and bassist Mach, always provide a good beat to follow and even get to show off a bit with some solo action leading into "One Plus One =."

    It's kind of hard to find out where to place these guys on the musical spectrum.  Vio System Divide could easily tour with anyone from Slayer to Iced Earth to Korn to In Flames and vibe with their crowd. As is the case with DTB, the clean vocals and unchallenging music (the main riff of "The Spiral" seems to be taken directly from Helmet's "Meantime") might turn off the hardcore metalheads, while the overwhelming heaviness and obtuse song titles would make the mallcore kids go and look for the new Trapt album or some similar bilge.  Really, that's Vio System Divide's biggest commercial hurdle to overcome, but I think that as long as they continue to pump out quality albums like A Subliminal Spirit... the listeners will come from wherever they may be. 

    Beneath it all, this *is* a very accessible album to any fan of heavy music.  I don't think that there's anything here to turn anyone away.  Plus, it's important to remember that this is a debut album, so the sky's the limit for this Japanese foursome.  Who knows what future directions they may take?

Rating: All-out Metallurgy! out of 10