Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

A house divided does not stand, this lesson of history is one that rarely is learnt because we don’t understand the basic concept of the self, that the various vagrancies of the various personalities within us pull at our senses and demand not unity of spirit, but a kind of hysterical split, a fragmentation of the soul.

Self-reflection in society starts from the individual, and between mania and frenzy, and that of composed serene relief, of the enthusiasm of tranquil balance with humanity, and when we can see the rage and the fear, the chaos in ourselves we measure the equilibrium to The Divided States of Hysteria and hopefully find a truth that leads to a kind of enlightenment.

The Plague’s overriding statement of intent on their latest album release, The Divided States of Hysteria, is one that confronts the relationship between the alternative states of mind, the internal belief and the external show of negative attachment to the anarchy we can suddenly unleash, is one that is understandably passionate and unrelenting in its delivery.

Tracks such as the fantastic Ugly On The Inside which deals with the narrative of displayed traits of the narcissist when viewed as owning up to our own levels of the personality disorders, a track which really finds a place to blow the mind, the excellent Living In The Past, the insidiousness reveal of Predator, and the class of What Else Can I Do, and Clean State, are raw, they bleed with the certainty of pain expressed, an inflamed sense of injustice at the world filled with the brutal horrors that are possibly akin to that highlighted in the cautionary tale of Jekyll and Hyde; the duality of human existence.

An album of emotional conflict that mirrors the current state of our alienated psyche, the overall pressures that drive many to seek salvation in the monsters of modern-day excess, The Divided States of Hysteria is a presentation of the exposed raw nerves that are on show from all.

The Plague release The Divided States of Hysteria on February 28th.

Ian D. Hall