On May 13th, 10 years drops their sophmore effort to pleasure your earholes.  When I first heard the single for the new album, I immediately questioned if this album would hold up to their first album, The Autmn Effect, or if it would fall into the ”Sophmore Slump” category.  I am happy to report this album lived up to my expectations… and then some.

Working on editing my photography, scanning, and general graphic design, I rely heavily on music to keep me going.  I can’t just listen to anything, either.  It has to be inspiring, or dull enough to not get in the way while I am working.  Division is an album that I can listen through without skipping tracks.  I wish I could say this about every album I have, but sadly, that is not the case.

What I like the most about this release is the roller coaster effect it has.  Right out of the gate you are hit with “Actions & Motives” which has the energy to garner interest in the album as well as cause road rage!  Then you are slipped into a more subtle song to bring you back down, almost on a bi-polar musical adventure, only to be lifted back into a high.  They do quite well with this and the variety of emotions and moods, coupled with their ability, makes a worthwhile experience.

The following summary helps hammer home the point I am trying to make.  Via Amazon.com:

Creativity isn’t manufactured on an assembly line. It can’t be scheduled or forced and when it’s not coming there’s nothing to do but wait. That’s what the members of Knoxville, Tennessee quintet, 10 Years, discovered when they started writing songs for their second album, Division, the follow-up to their debut The Autumn Effect. Having spent the better part of two years on the road, the band members planned in October 2006 to take a month off and then dive back into writing mode. They aimed to re-enter the studio in early 2007 and have their second album done by that spring. But just a few weeks after they started coming up with riffs and melodies, it became clear they were going to have to throw away the calendar.

“We could have met our deadlines and gone into the studio in January,” clarifies singer Jesse Hasek. “But we decided early on that we weren’t going to allow ourselves to run through the motions. We felt like we really needed to challenge ourselves and do something fresh and different. And that took a little longer than we expected.”

As it turned out, Division was well worth the wait. Musically eclectic, technically adept and emotionally poignant, the songs shatter preconceptions, revealing a tapestry of previously unexplored influences and a larger array of stunning melodies. Like The Autumn Effect, the new album is filled with enveloping textures and heart-stopping dynamics, but the arrangements are more developed and the songwriting more mature, revealing a cavalcade of styles including metal, hard rock, punk, alternative pop and even classical.

Pick it up via Amazon.com or iTunes.