Every New Day – Even In The Darkest Places

Alright, so life for me right now has been fairly hectic, no time to write, all work. But today I got my wisdom teeth extracted(not the most fun moment of my life, but nonetheless important), so I finally had time to listen to this cd in its entirety. I figure reviewing a cd is more productive than wallowing in pain and self-pity. So here are some of my preconceived notions(you know, what I’m going to assume the rest of the cd sounds like) about this cd as I listen to the first song while writing: the vocals are a little poppy, the drummer lays down some fairly wild beats, the guitar is almost entirely high notes with some impressive solos, and the bassist is pretty much just chugging along in the background. It seems to be sticking to that formula too, and although I’m not a big fan of poppy vocals, the songs are really to fast for me to really care, even if the vocalist does kind of sound like Thrice with the odd scream and background group chant thrown in. But there’s conflict in my mind while I listen to this. For one, I’d like to finish the cd, but I can feel myself getting bored with the album. It’s good, I just think I’m incapable of sticking it out because I’m just not enjoying it that much. I guess I can only tolerate the vocals for so long. Nothing really much has changed since the first song either, not that I was expecting anything to really change, more just hoping for something different(hope didn’t get me very far, so I changed what I’m listening too). The cd seems to have one of those “darker” themes too, a theme which I’m getting tired of. Everyone is playing “darker” music now, although that can mean anything from “I’m pissed my girlfriend left me, now I’m going to plot against her” to “I’m possessed by the Devil and I want to destroy existence as we know it.” This isn’t really either of those themes, it’s more of a “I’m in pain, now I’m going to write music that reflects that” theme.

I guess what I’ve been trying to say is this album is alright, although I would have liked it more if the vocals had appealed to me more. Instrumentally, Every New Day is great and they had the sound of a metal or “metalcore” band. I know of people that I’m sure would love this, but since I only mildly enjoyed it, I can think of a hundred other cd’s I’d prefer over this one. But as always, I advise that you check this band out, I’m sure they have a myspace or purevolume site and all that jazz. While you’re at it, check out some of the other bands on Hand of Hope and Eulogy Recordings, they’re got some great bands.