Having released their self-titled debut album on 27th January, music project The Enigma Division follow it with a new single and video in ‘Echoes In The Deep’, featuring Derek Sherinian.
Speaking of the new track, guitarist, Conor McGouran said: “‘Echoes In The Deep’ is probably one of our more ambitious tracks musically. There’s plenty of key changes, heavy riffing, intricate instrumentation, and atmospherics, but we have hopefully combined these elements with common sense and an anthemic sensibility.
“Basically can progressive rock have hooks? I think it can. Lyrically it deals openly about mental health struggles or how common depression really is. It does provide a message of hope though. That element of hope and self reflection is the thread that links these tracks together.”
On working with former Dream Theater and current Sons Of Apollo keyboardist, Derek Sherinian; “We were also incredibly fortunate to collaborate with one of our musical heroes, Mr. Derek Sherinian. We proudly wear our influences on our sleeves, and Dream Theater, and more so Planet X, are clearly a huge influence on our sound. As the track is quite synth-heavy, we felt Derek’s incredible unique musical voice would be perfect for this track. I still get chills listening to his playing on it.“
You can check out the ‘Echoes In The Deep’ video, created by Very Metal Art, here at RAMzine, alongside exclusive video footage of Derek performing some of the keyboard parts for the track.
Regarding previous single, ‘The Age of Discovery’, Mcguran said: “’The Age of Discovery’ was one of the earliest songs we wrote together when we first started The Enigma Division. Will’s (Alex Young) lyrics were exactly what this tune needed, as we wanted to convey a sense of hope amongst the intense nature of the music.
“Something we strive for in all our songs is that message of when we’re losing hope, we can remind ourselves that the world we want to live in, the one we can imagine, can be real, because we create our world.”
Featuring guitarist Conor McGouran [ex-Xerath], with producer/mixer/composer/drummer, Ben Wanders [ex-Xerath, Shardbourne] and Ronan Burns it will also include guest appearances from William Alex Young (Defences), Derek Sherinian (Sons Of Apollo, Planet X, Dream Theater), and Stephen Taranto (The Helix Nebula/Solo).
You can also check out ‘The Age of Discovery’ via the video here at RAMzine.
With new music being teased as far back as last 2019, The Enigma Division immediately caught the attention of progressive fans with their string of independent releases, and thanks to their unique mix of ‘80s synth, progressive pock and technical metal alongside eye-catching videos.
Speaking of the band’s formation, McGouran explained: “The Enigma Division started as the brainchild of myself and Ronan Burns. We both have quite a wide range of musical tastes and the idea was to create a sound that combined all of those influences and make it our own. It’s become a sound we refer to as “tech-noir” as it incorporates our love for atmospheric 80s synth music, film score and science fiction combined with extremely groove laden heavy riffs”.
The Enigma Division previously released the single and video ‘The Escapist’ – That’s been described as “an eye watering display of musicianship and songwriting that will please a wide variety of fans who enjoy the sounds of Rush, Liquid Tension Experiment and Opeth“.
You can check out the video here at RAMzine but McGouran noted this about the new single; “‘The Escapist’ is a song about having profound feelings of dissatisfaction about where one is in life, but creativity is the one thread that helps overcome an existential crisis. Musically I guess Nevermore, Fear Factory and Brad Fiedel were the driving influences on this one. It was also my first venture into using 8 string guitars.”
2023’s self-titled album features the tracks: ‘1977’, ‘The Escapist’, ‘Echoes In The Deep’, ‘Afterglow’, ‘The Age Of Discovery’, ‘Kaleidoscope‘, ‘Clarity’ and ‘1977 – Ad Infinitum’.
