Divided (Hungarian band)

Divided (sometimes stylized as divideD) are a Hungarian metal band formed in Budapest, Hungary in 2014 by guitarist psyKlone and vocalist Belmont, the primary songwriters of the band. The initial lineup was rounded out by bassist Sol and drummer Stalkher, second guitarist v0id joined in early 2017. The band members use stage aliases, and stage personas with masks and face paint settled into a Science fiction|sci-fi imagery that is built around travelling in time and space. Their style they call arenacore is characterized by big, catchy choruses tracking back to the 1980s in music|1980s arena rock outfits infused with synthwave and Pop music|pop hooks, modern EDM music|EDM, Hip hop|hip-hop and Industrial music|industrial styles.
Guitarist psyKlone cited Within Temptation as the key influence for forming the band, both their modern and catchy style and spectacular stage performance. The band's live shows rely on strong visuals. Stage looks are tailored to sci-fi scenery and the dynamic performance is accompanied by synced VJ scenes in the background which often refer to the lyrical content and emphasize the mood of the songs. 
Divided released 2 full-length albums, 2 EPs and a live video of a full concert so far. Their debut album, Modulus came out in November 2017 with 12 original songs. The songs on the record relied heavily on projecting strong vibes and different moods of a bleak, dystopian future. The second album, Behind Your Neon Eyes was released in July 2020, but instead of the blue glow of a post-apocalyptic world, it shines in the gleaming neon colors of the late 1980s. Behind Your Neon Eyes is much more arena rock oriented and uses the warm, analog synth sounds of the Synthwave|new retrowave movement.
== Career ==
Since the formation of their band, Divided have played in festivals such as Rockmaraton, FEZEN, Open Road, Fekete Zaj and Arló Hellness Hétvége and besides circling heavily in the Hungarian underground scene, they toured outside Hungary playing in Romania, the Czech Republic and Serbia. Divided supported international acts Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity, Combichrist and The Three Tremors in Hungary and beyond.
Modulus was voted Debut Album Of The Year at Hang-Súly Hungarian Metal Awards 2017 and received mostly positive reviews in the Hungarian press and webzines.
Behind Your Neon Eyes featured Björn Strid|Björn "Speed" Strid (vocalist of Soilwork, The Night Flight Orchestra) and Flo V. Schwarz (vocalist of Pyogenesis) in the songs Meteoritehttps://hammerworld.hu/2020/07/10/divided-klipes-uj-dal-bjorn-speed-striddel-meteorite/ and Until The Stars Turn Coldhttps://hammerworld.hu/2020/11/25/divided-uj-klip-szuletett-a-pyogenesis-enekesevel-until-the-stars-turn-cold/ and the corresponding music videos. The album met with good reception both in Hungary and worldwide. 
The band released Live Modules, its first pro-shot live video in December 2020. The video commemorates the first 5 years of the band with songs from their first album and a cover of DJ BoBo's Pray.
A live video was aired on Hungarian national TV in January 2020 featuring Behind Your Neon Eyes almost entirely. The video was recorded without audience due to COVID-19 restrictions at A38, a boat that serves as a club in Budapest, Hungary and besides the live footage, it contains interview parts with Belmont and psyKlone and is available on YouTube. 
== Sci-fi background ==
Divided developed a fictional background for the groups alteregos written by Belmont, the band's vocalist and main lyricist. As he is also a skilled graphic artist and it was his longtime desire to have the characters appear as comic/cartoon figures, a comic strip called Divbits was published online in 2020 with short sketches of intergalactic adventures. 
==== The Modulus-saga ====
Sol re-animated psyKlone as a time-travelling cyborg that set off the company of intergalactic vigilantes known as Divided. On their journey through space and time, they have picked up a lot of influences to create a mixture of styles on their divisive debut called Modulus. The scientist and the cyborg have been accompanied by the immortal warrior, Belmont coming from medieval Transylvania and 3rd World War torture master Stalkher. Last to join was v0id, the obscure chaos entity created from the dark matter of the portals. The story of the five has faded into the mist of the past, their quest for Modulus changed the universe forever. They thought their unity is unbreakable. That they cannot be DIVIDED. But then…
==== Behind Your Neon Eyes ====
There wasn’t a single note heard of the second album yet, when an impostor broke the timeline. Before Belmont joined, this impostor had studied the Modulus Odyssey carefully and disguised himself perfectly as the medieval vampire hunter. His plan was to change the history of the gang and steer them to a new direction while keeping the original material untouched and intact in time. Now emerged as Brother Belmont, he became much more fierce than the original one and this made psyKlone reinventing himself in a much more militant outfit. Sol was relieved as he saw that his friend he already lost once can now perfectly defend himself, so the scientist lost his cold and distant attitude. Another blow to the songwriting procedure was the loss of Stalkher. During a trip to neo-feudal Japan, a samurai warrior tried saving the bacon of the drummer in trouble but failed. The samurai took over his place behind the drums for a couple of months until he was killed in a mission battling a nazi outpost on the Moon. Luckily in the debris of the destroyed moonbase, the band found a clone of Stalkher who was trained for an upcoming intergalactic war, so Stalkher Junior took back his place as the beatmaster.
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
Year	Title
2017	Modulus
2020	Behind Your Neon Eyes
=== Extended Plays ===
Year	Title
2015	Ends Of Earth
2018	A Hundred Times
=== Live videos ===
Year	Title
2020	Live Modules
2021	Behind Your Neon Eyes Live at A38