Review Summary: Crushing....Desperate...Meloncholic.. An excellent album in it's own mind.
Daylight Dies is an American Doom Metal band forming in 1996. They have released three studio albums, “Dismantling Devotion” being their third and best effort as of now. Daylight Dies has released a strong album that takes everything from the past and create an extremely well crafted and focused piece of music.
“Dismantling Devotion” takes the basic sound of Doom Metal and add their own ingredients to the mix, setting themselves apart from the rest of the competition. Upon hearing this, you can hear elements from several bands right away, ranging from older Katatonia, to Opeth, while still managing to create their own niche. Some bands seem to focus sorely on the vocals being at the forefront, that is not true for Daylight Dies. As remarkable as the vocals are in this CD, the instruments shine the brightest. The two guitars merge to create something beautiful, laying down well structured, extremely catchy riffs and somber melodies that hint at sadness and despair. The drumming holds the beat at a rocking pace, as the vocals soar to another level of greatness.
There is plenty of hard hitting riffs along with clean acoustic passages to be found. The guitar riffs range from oppressively slow and melodic to heavy and medium paced. Occasionally, solos are played in the mix, adding on to the melancholic atmosphere which is taking place. To me, Nathan Ellis is an improvement over their last singer. His savage roars fit perfectly into the somber music being played. A lot of fury and passion can be heard in his voice as depression engulfs him. There are some clean vocals that take presence here, oddly familiar to Jonas Renske of Katatonia. “Solitary Confinement” shows the best example of this. Melodic guitar riffs open up to slow paced drumming and Egan’s smooth crooning soon enters. There are no harsh vocals to be found on this track but that doesn’t make this bad. In fact, this is my favorite song off the album. Egan’s voice is very soothing and relaxing as the music just adds on here. Drumming wise, “Daylight Dies” keeps everything in balance, never once sacrificing subtlety for dramatic fare. Bass can be heard throughout but nothing remarkable as the bass play's third fiddle. As well as having superior song writing skills and possessing excellent talent on their instruments, “Dismantling Devotion is wrapped around superb production to finish the deal. Overall, this is quite an extraordinary album with no visible flaws in sight. Everything I ever wanted in metal can be found here. Some might find this album is too slow and become bored with this due to the slow tempos and changes that envelope this album. The structure of the music is Doom Metal at heart with melodic death influences so be wary. Take some time to appreciate what is being heard and let the music take you.
With this album, Daylight Dies has stepped up in the Metal world and delivered a monster of an album. "Dismantling Devotion" is a textured album that blends many elements into a diverse and refreshing record that has great retail play and a lack of filler. One day, they will be mentioned in the same breath as Opeth and Novembers Doom. The accoustic interludes, the instrumental passages,tempo changes, and the vocal performance are all well executed on this album. I highly recommend this band to fans of Melodic Death Metal or Metal in general, as this is a CD chock full of the heavy, the melodic and the catchy. Fans of Opeth or earlier Katatonia should have no problem getting hooked to this. You will not be disappointed. One of the best modern metal performances from this decade.
Nathan Ellis- Vocals
Barre Gambling- Acoustic and Electric Guitar
Charlie Shackelford- Electric Guitar
Egan O ‘Rourke- Bass, Clean Vocals
Jesse Half- Drums
Pros:
Strong Clean/Harsh Vocals
Excellent Musicianship
Catchy riffs
Cons:
None To Me
