The dichotomy of the beautiful and the hideous is one that’s crucial to the high-tech anthem farm Starset have gone to great pains to cultivate on DIVISIONS. The record is the third chapter in their ongoing concept of a world consumed by technology and the attendant evils nobody ever thought of before embracing it. Sure, it’s a historically overwrought premise that crosses all many music genres. Given the social, cultural, political and environmental quagmire we’ve gotten ourselves into as a civilization, it’s something worth doing the deeper, harder dive into. More power to them.

Read more: Starset release new dystopian video for “Manifest”

Starset are at their peak when all the components in their synergy—Bates’ melodic humanity, inspired electronics and the brusque rock riffage that propels it—conveys all the urgency the thematic content demands. Indeed, the vistas on “Perfect Machine,” “Where The Skies End,” “Other Worlds Like These,” “Telekinetic” and “Stratosphere” reveal a sum that’s certainly not soft or too clever by half. It’s an alloy that’s slightly futuristic, but warmly familiar.

Not gonna lie, though: Sometimes you might wonder why the synth part on the intro to “Echo” sounds like it was lifted off of Tyler Joseph’s hard-drive. You may even consider why they didn’t build an entire track from that amazing kick-ass groove at the end of “Solstice.” But you should be very excited that the dead civilization chorale at the tail end of “Diving Bell” may set the scene for an even more perplexing, weirder and uncompromising next chapter in the Starset universe.  

On DIVISIONS, Starset have done their best to create their own hard-rockin’ Skylab where Nothing More and Crown The Empire occasionally come over to do maintenance on their vessel, prior to having some cold beverages and attempting to mash-up smooth 808-powered melodies against Helmet’s first two records. Maybe they’ll find a wormhole that transports them back to 2010, where they can secure that opening slot on the Coheed And Cambria/Porcupine Tree tour.

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With both vision and talent at their disposal, they will inevitably arrive at the perfect compound of alien soundscapes and six-stringed majesty. Starset have made good on their promise to fans to deliver a greater music experience beyond social media updates and that one song on the radio. Because they know that deep in their hearts, they’ve got a lot more exploring to do as artists, musicians and humans.

The adventure that is DIVISIONS begins here.

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Since their 2013 beginnings in Columbus, Ohio, Starset have tirelessly pursued an aesthetic that’s based more on science than fiction. But despite the number of folks that bought Fear Inoculum last week, for the most part, Americans still hold intelligence suspect. Avenged Sevenfold may have gotten Neil Tyson DeGrasse to wax eloquently on their last album, but Starset aim to get to your heart via your brain, like some cool nephews of Bill Nye who always ruined the grading curve in your science classes but always had impeccable taste in books, music and deep knowledge of the molecular structure of energy drinks.  

The Starset fans (the Stan-set?) have taken the band’s quest for knowledge to heart, inspiring them to pick up their camera-phones and walk, creating videos based upon the tracks from 2017’s Vessels, seemingly far away from gravity’s pull, with a cumulative amount of views totalling a mere billion.

Read more: Starset’s Dustin Bates talks, science, technology and going to Mars  

That kind of consciousness has spread worldwide, allowing the band to do things that are both cool and crushing. On 2018’s reissue of Vessels 2.0, the band added acoustic versions of tracks, as well as a Type O Negative cover (“Love You To Death”). Signed to Fearless Records, Starset were the first act on the label to play China, throwing it down in a 20,000-seat arena during the World Electronic Sports Games this past March. Plans call for the band to embark on a 15-date tour of Russia in the spring of 2020.

Furthering their dedication to knowledge and its relationship to art and culture, the band will be offering everything from an online portal (The Starset Society orientation packet) with assets to aid fans in their artistic manifestations of promotion and dedication to the group, all the way to an NFC chip inside vinyl pressings of DIVISIONS containing even more exclusive content.

Read more: Watch Starset perform at the 2017 APMAS

From the 3-D printing of the band logo (which their label had shot into space) to an exhaustively immersive experience involving everything from augmented reality, graphic  novels, video and of course, music, Starset are going places a lot of bands haven’t been. Mainly because those groups haven’t considered the possibilities in the first place.

Check out the full stream of DIVISIONS below.

Starset kick off their headlining tour with Palisades, HYDE and A Brilliant Lie as support in Cincinnati Friday with tickets here. DIVISIONS is available now, and you can check out the full tracklisting below.

Tracklisting:

1. “A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE”
2. “MANIFEST”
3. “ECHO”
4. “WHERE THE SKIES END”
5. “PERFECT MACHINE”
6. “TELEKINETIC”
7. “STRATOSPHERE”
8. “FAULTLINE”
9. “SOLSTICE”
10. “TRIALS”
11. “WAKING UP”
12. “OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE”
13. “DIVING BELL”

Dates:

09/13 — Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
09/15 — Reading, PA @ Reverb
09/17 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
09/18 — Norfolk, VA @ The NorVA
09/20 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
09/22 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
09/24 — Baton Rouge, LA @ Varsity Theatre
09/25 — Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
09/28 — Dallas, TX @ Canton Hall
09/29 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom
10/01 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Pressroom
10/02 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
10/04 — San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
10/05 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace Of Spades
10/07 — San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
10/08 — Ventura, CA @ The Majestic Ventura Theater
10/13 — Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre
10/14 — Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
10/16 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
10/17 — Denver, CO @ Summit
10/20 — Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
10/21 — Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
10/24 — Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
10/25 — New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre
10/26 — Hartford, CT @ The Webster
10/27 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club

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The new song is from the band’s upcoming third album DIVISIONS, which is out September 13. 

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Holland, who is known for his amazing drum covers of artists such as Halsey, Skrillex, the 1975 and more, shared the band’s tweet about the new video and album. 

“Check it out one of my favorite albums I’ve played on! Excited for them & their new release,” Holland wrote. 

Check it out one of my favorite albums I’ve played on! Excited for them & their new release @starsetonline https://t.co/EUTEgw4q9x

— Luke Holland (@LukeHolland) August 15, 2019

The new video showcases the theme of the album which is “one of a dystopian future world divided by the technology that has taken over in a war for human consciousness — those obeying and implementing it, and those fighting against it.” Check out the video for “MANIFEST” below. 

You can check out the full DIVISIONS tracklist below. 

1. “A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE”
2. “MANIFEST”
3. “ECHO”
4. “WHERE THE SKIES END”
5. “PERFECT MACHINE”
6. “TELEKINETIC”
7. “STRATOSPHERE”
8. “FAULTLINE”
9. “SOLSTICE”
10. “TRIALS”
11. “WAKING UP”
12. “OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE”
13. “DIVING BELL”

Starset are also going on tour. You can see the full list of dates below. 

Dates

09/13 — Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart’s
09/15 — Reading, PA @ Reverb
09/17 — Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore
09/18 — Norfolk, VA @ The NorVA
09/20 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore
09/22 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre
09/24 — Baton Rouge, LA @ Varsity Theatre
09/25 — Houston, TX @ House Of Blues
09/28 — Dallas, TX @ Canton Hall
09/29 — Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom
10/01 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Pressroom
10/02 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
10/04 — San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom
10/05 — Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
10/07 — San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
10/08 — Ventura, CA @ The Majestica Ventura Theatre
10/13 — Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre

10/14 — Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory
10/16 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
10/17 — Denver, CO @ Summit
10/20 — Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
10/21 — Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
10/24 — Philadelphia, PA @ TLA
10/25 — New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theatre
10/26 — Hartford, CT @ The Webster
10/27 — Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club

What do you think of the new Starset video featuring Luke Holland? Sound off in the comments down below and let us know!

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