It’s difficult to explain just what an impact Biohazard had when their sophomore album (and Roadrunner debut) Urban Discipline landed. A masterclass in hip-hop-infused-hardcore at a time when such a fusion bordered on heresy, it built on the underground success of the band’s self-titled debut and propelled them into the big league alongside the likes of House of Pain, Sick of It All, and Fishbone. Unfortunately, while third album State of The World Address did much to build on the success of its predecessor, it also led to the departure of guitarist Bobby Hambel, with the band rarely holding a stable line up from that point forward.
While the original line up did eventually reunite in 2012 for the poorly received Reborn in Defiance, the return of Bobby Hambel coincided with the departure of Evan Seinfield, leading to a period of turmoil. A second reunion in 2022, however, saw Biohazard inflicting maximum damage on stage, and the reignited four-piece finally returned to the studio for Divided We Fall, a welcome return and the band’s first album in thirteen years.
As mission statements go, they don’t come much more direct than Fuck the System – a swirling, old-school monster of a track that brings together all of the vital Biohazard elements. Mid-tempo opening? Check. Sample? Check? Ferocious, hardcore riffing and hip-hop elements? Check, check, checkity check. This is the anthem Biohazard fans have been waiting for, and it captures the band on ferocious form. Fortunately, lightning can strike twice and, having set the album off with an explosive opener, the band maintain momentum on the frantic Forsaken. Delivered like a hollow point to the cranium, it once again taps into the dark groove that made Urban Discipline and State of The World Address so beloved, and it’s hard to believe that both albums are decades in the rearview mirror.
With Biohazard on exceptional form, the pace slows for the doom-laden Eyes on Six. It may open on a syrupy Sabbath riff, but it soon takes flight, the stabbing riffs carving out space as Evan and Billy trade barbed lyrics. A spit ‘n’ sweat smoked monster of a track, it provides further proof (as if any were needed) that Biohazard, on this sort of form, are nigh-on untouchable. That sense remains on the mid-tempo Death of Me, a slower, harder track that may just stand as one of the heaviest pieces the band has ever penned. With Bobby Hambel absolutely nailing his leads here and across the album, it’s a metallic hardcore masterclass that underscores the unique chemistry and power of this line up.
Where Death of Me trawled the depths, the swingeing riff of Word to The Wise is an unstoppable juggernaut, blazing from the wreckage of its predecessor as the band give voice to the enduring defiance that bought the band back form the dead to unleash this none-more-brutal opus. Then there’s Fight to Be Free, which is merely a great song, although it pales in comparison to the schizophrenic War Inside Me. A track that wastes no time on preamble, it simple arrives and starts curb-stomping the opposition. Then there’s S.I.T.F.O.A(Strength in The Face of Adversity), which offers a surprisingly positive message despite the hammer-blow strength of the riffs.
With Biohazard on the form of their lives, Tear Down the Walls barrels towards the listener like a train with the breaks jammed open. Built around the sort of infectious riff that made Punishment such an enduring classic, it captures pretty much everything that had made Biohazard great over the years and packs it into three ferocious minutes. The band deliver another strong message with I Will Overcome, before the band wrap up the album with Warriors. With its gang-chant opening, it provides the album with a fitting conclusion – a call to arms delivered with passion and power by a band at the top of their game.
Divided We Fall is the album Biohazard needed to make. It’s not merely the first album from the band in thirteen years, it is arguably the best album the band have produced since State Of The World Address – which is in no way intended as a slight on subsequent albums so much as an acknowledgment that Biohazard here sound more fired up, more pissed off, more vital than they have in years. A lean, hungry album, it absolutely nails that classic Biohazard sound over the course of its eleven tracks and, such is the strength of the band’s songwriting and performance, that each could be a potential single.
It’s been a long wait but, in Divided We Fall, Biohazard have delivered the record for which their fans have been clamouring, and it absolutely slays. 9.5/10
