Album Review: The Division Men – Niños Del Sol

Niños Del Sol is the third album from Austin, TX’s The Division Men that was recorded over a period of two and a half years in Austin, TX and features guest appearances from members of The Black Angels, Tito And Tarantula, Asleep At The Wheel and The Zeros. With the release of the Niños Del Sol album The Division Men have developed their distinctive sound that has been described as dark, romantic, ethereal and haunting.

The Division Men‘s latest album gives you the feeling that it has just blown in from the desert, in much the same way that Clint Eastwood emerged in High Plains Drifter, and this is an album that carries the same feeling of haunting windswept menace. This is not an album that suddenly bursts into life, the tumbleweed continues to blow across the album as they maintain the style across the ten tracks, and almost hour long run time. Given the guest appearances on the album from worlds of punk, stoner and psyche rock this is a somewhat unexpected album, and there may well be some scratching of heads if the album is bought on this basis, but given time you may well find that Niños Del Sol‘s dusty charms grow on you.

With Niños Del Sol it seems The Division Men have managed to release an full length that sits somewhere between Mark Lanegan era Queens Of The Stone Age, Nick Cave and Johnny Cash‘s American series of albums, to me Niños Del Sol sounds like an album crafted for late nights that run into early mornings where the bourbon has been poured freely and the air is heavy with smoke. I have no doubt that you will find Niños Del Sol to be a windswept and mysterious album of Americana, but it’s also one that can be strangely compelling and hypnotic when the mood is right.

The Division Men‘s website can be found here and their Bandcamp is here