A Horrible Death To A Horrible Man : "Days Gone By"

It was my second listen to this album I put on the headphones to ingest all that they have going on. Some of this is more in your face than others. I would not say comparisons to Deafheaven are unfounded. They capture a similar static buzz. The downtrodden vocals have more in common with Interpol. This detached croon sits back in the mix. This also serves as a case for when the unique nature of the swirl they hit you with takes you into it's arms before you question the cause of the hypnosis and ask but can they write a song ? This common with very heavy music to do, but as demonstrated here it can also occur with things that are only adjacent to metal. I type this even with the more black gaze  buzz of guitar is raging into the head phone. Though it is the rage of of a storm and not the hateful rage that empowers black metal. 

What they do leans very much into the hypnotic drone generated by tremolo picked guitar. The vocals do put more effort into making sure this is a song. They give them vocals more room to breathe that plays to the song's favor. The black metal energy which is more of the shimmering wall that overpowers languishing melody of "First Light' finds the odd juxtaposition they work off dulling it's charm slightly. Dynamics are still in play. I have often pondered if the droning ambiance that black metal so often locks into would be made more interesting if the vocals were sung. The answer is still unsure on the third song. They manage to break away from this on "Fails". I could hear some of the higher vocals being pitchy live. The vocals are less drenched in effects than what you expect from shoe gaze. I guess if the National was into metal rather than Taylor Swift they might sound like this.

They hold things steady for the title track and it pays off. His declaration of  love is pain, is made effective by doing less tempo wise. It might not be as intense as the first couple of songs, but it works better and I feel I hear who they are. They do build back up into the faster tremolo but the dynamics make it more effective. They take things to a more cautious polarity into terms of safe breathing room with the last song, until the four minute mark. I do not think the vocals are as compelling as the previous song, but I like the glum lyrics, declaring we are all going to die.  I will give this album a 9, as it sound great, and does something pretty wonderful the swarm of guitars might need to grow on me to avoid feeling the uniformity they create.