Daylight Dies

Daylight Dies’ inclusion on the bill for Emperor’s New York City reunion shows in July surprised many, although Dismantling Devotion will likely dispel any uncertainty as to the worthiness of their catalogue. Resting somewhere in between Katatonia circa Brave Murder Day and Opeth’s older material, the band have clearly found a style they are comfortable with and gone with it, and the results are impressive. While lacking the memorability and rock sensibilities of the aforementioned groups, Daylight Dies make up for it by turning their focus to sheer, depressive atmosphere, and creating passages of immeasurable depth and replay value. A crisp mix keeps the instruments firmly balanced, and rectifies their prior full-length’s poor attempt at mimicking Brave Murder Day’s distinctive, ultra click-y drum sound. New vocalist Nathan Ellis does a fair Mikael Akerfeldt circa-Morningrise impression, and keeps his delivery consistent and fully within respectable boundaries. There are momentary bursts of clean vocals, courtesy of bassist Egan O’Rourke, which are excellently delivered and further enhance the music’s doom-y, contemplative qualities. Daylight Dies, while admittedly playing it fairly safe with Dismantling Devotion, have fashioned their most professional, complete work to date. One can only hope that they will push their boundaries further and progress greatly with their next release.