Hailing from Sydney, Australia DAYSEND was founded from the remnants of several local bands in 2002. One year later the band came out with the debut Severance which got chosen as the best newcomer album 2003 in Australia, accompanied by heavy air rotation and support throughout the fifth continent (which is quite unusual, since they prefer non-Australian metal bands down under). In 2004 Severance got finally released in Europe (and America) and knows how to thrill the listening audience in series. And that is a fact I totally agree with!
DAYSEND combine an array of different genres and styles to create something new and fresh. Tracks like Ignorance Of Bliss and The Blood Of Angels could be taken as homage to the big ones from the Swedish Death and Thrash scene, while songs like the opener Born Is The Enemy, Beggars With Knives and Sibling hint at the American Modern Metal/ East coast Hardcore and Neo Thrash scene.
Severance is very aggressive, fast and the riffing brutal just as the production kills and blows you away. But Severance is also melodic which might be due to the clean singing in between from singer Simon Calabrese that reminds me a lot of Fear Factory and of course because of the melodic and typical Swedish guitar lines. So the band creates fantastic contrasts and a wide array of variety. Just a few guitar solos and breaks are … let’s say … strange ;) (e.g. in Born Is The Enemy). But it does not do any harm to the entire impression.
Great album! And I’m sure Severance will make it to the best newcomer album 2004 in a few European countries too.