For some reason I have always thought that Australian metal is really quite bad. This might be due to them not having exposure, the fact that they suck or have no originality. All of these reasons could are justified and are most likely all true to an extent. However, this year for some reason, I have been checking out a few Australian metal bands. This could be by accident (which this was) or by someone suggesting it. Before listening to The Warning by Daysend I had not heard of them. The cover took me, mainly because it looked dark yet interesting and it also look vaguely like Within Temptation’s The Heart of Everything.
Daysends members:
Aaron Bilbjia- Lead Guitar
Mark McKernan- Vocals
Meredith Webster- Bass Guitar
Wayne J. Morris- Drums
Michael Kordek- Guitar
Daysend creates brutality with melodious incarnations. This is due to McKernan combining growls with clean singing. It gives the album an elegant yet dark and mysterious dynamic. He does not do anything unusual with this but it does create some unpredictability among the vocals. He is a very strong and assertive singer with his clean singing. The growls could be worked on as they are a bit too harsh and less controlled. It does add something nice to the album, though. His best clean singing can be found on the tracks like ‘Blacker Days’, ‘Breathe it in’ and the end of ‘The Violence’.
Instrumentally Daysend are very apt with the sound they give. They have a few melodious sections which add a nice feel and break up some of the brutality of the album. Daysend are essentially a brutal band as they have more a hardcore/death metal sound. They use the guitar solos sparsely which is great as when they are used is becomes more effective. Wayne J Morris also does not overplay on the drums, he does some blast beats but never too much. The drums are most effective on tracks such as ‘Winter’ as the guitars and vocals mainly used. In ‘Winter’ he adds fills but never takes any of the limelight and only adds the fills when necessary. However, most of the songs are essentially brutal with melodious tinges to them. The exception is the instrumental ‘V’ on track 5 and this is a very refreshing track. They could have added another track similar to break the brutality of the album closer to the end.
The Warnings sound is very good as it is not rip-off of another style of metal. The problem which I have heard with Australian metal is that exact reason. This is the main reason why I stay away from Australian metal. Daysend seem to be an exception to this as they don’t rip-off the Gothenburg or American metal for example. Instead they only take a few of these influences as they take a bit of their sound from bands like In Flames, Chimaira and Hatebreed among others.
Overall Daysends new album, The Warning, should be a fresh air to Australian metal. They show a great deal of talent. The guitars create brutality with melody, the drums do not over play like some of his counterparts seem to be doing and the vocals add dynamic as they are either growled or clean singing. They create their own sound but still keep some of their influences in their sound.
4/5
