A successful successor to Terraforming
Six years or so ago, The Postman Syndrome released Terraforming, and after hearing it a few years ago it quickly became one of my favourite albums. The quintet managed to exploit the possibilities of a sound that combined art rock (think Dredg), alternative metal (think Neurosis, Tool), and progressive rock (think King Crimson) while still remembering that they're just a rock band and maintaining a very down-to-earth sound, rather than going over the top with progressive rock/metal's usual flaw of excessive ambition and self-importance. They also had three guitarists, two singers, and one screamer and skillfully arranged these elements into all sorts of harmonic and dynamic ear-candy goodies. Then, even as they were planning to record their second album, The Postman Syndrome's label went bankrupt, they reformed as Day Without Dawn (sans guitarist/singer Matt Lupo and with drummer Mike Sommers being replaced by Seth Rheam), and now they're releasing their second album Understanding Consequences. It just took them six years.
While Day Without Dawn have lost one guitarist, they've made up for it by pushing their musicianship forward. Rarely repeating themselves, the ideas on Understanding Consequences flow and morph over the course of each song. While Day Without Dawn have cut back on the metal influence since Terraforming, the music still ranges from the epic roars of "The Wake" to the laid back jazzy ballad "Seducing the Dead". Where the severing of a member is noticed on Understanding Consequences is in the vocal department. Jim Stang, having smoothed the flaws he showed on Day Without Dawn's EP into interesting quirks, is now a solid singer. However he's not quite talented for his vocal chords to carry all of the melodies, and the album's main flaw is a low number of memorable vocal lines. Chris Alfano's screaming and growling has gotten to the point where he can practically carry a tune with it, but because the music is lighter than on Terraforming he often sounds out of place.
This is both the debut and epilogue of Day Without Dawn; it has been released posthumously and the band have lost Jim Stang, replaced him with Dan Brownridge, and renamed themselves Biclops. Hopefully the follow-up will take less than a half decade to release, because though Understanding Consequences is an accomplished album it also has imperfections that their new line-up seems to have cured.
| Reviewer: Jeff Mcquiggan Added: May 18th 2008 |
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