01. Pale Moonlight
02. Creature In The Black Night
03. Crawl Back To My Coffin
04. Shapeshift
05. Soulburn
06. Bloodlust
07. Cemetery Blues
08. Nocturnal Remedy
09. The Living Dead
10. Meet The Reaper
11. Forgotten Ghost
Orange Country, California has brought the music world a bevy of bands in all musical genres, but when it comes to metalcore, DAYSEEKER is one of the bigger names from the region. The metalcore-meets-post-hardcore band blends emotive lyrics, lush sonic landscapes, heavy riffing and melodic vocals to create a sound that’s on the more melodic side of metalcore, but still with an edge and sharpness.
What stands out about DAYSEEKER is how their vocals and energy stay raw, yet their production is modern and polished — the best of both words. Vocalist Rory Rodriguez describes their music as “sad rock,” but it seems more like hopeful melancholy.
Now, DAYSEEKER is back with their latest studio album, “Creature In The Black Night”, out on Spinefarm. The album stays in line with their previous releases but also pushes enough to make it a more experimental journey.
Many of the songs here carry the motifs of mistrust and betrayal, making this a deep, dark listen, one that gets you questioning who you can really trust. “Pale Moonlight”, a song about giving into one’s vices, is an atmospheric journey through time, with sparking guitars and deeply personal lyrics about giving in and up. “Creature In The Black Night” follows, the album’s title track, with an electronic backbone and thick, melodic, falsetto vocals that recall a BAD OMENS track.
In general, this album is softer and more melodic than some of DAYSEEKER’s previous releases, and it’s a refreshing change for the metalcore genre, in general, which has been extremely heavy as of late. The new album does have its heavy moments, and “Bloodlust” is one of them. The song’s heavy riffs (finally!) and brutal breakdown show DAYSEEKER still know how to rock hard.
Elsewhere, “Cemetery Blues” is a soft, yearning ballad with polished vocals, and “The Living Dead” is another soft ballad that begs for one to pull out a lighter or iPhone and wave it in the air.
With the deeply melodic, slow-burning vibe of the record DAYSEEKER are really doing something fresh on “Creature In The Black Night”. Even so, it’ll be great to hear them roar again in the future, if they pull out some heavier numbers, because they’ve mastered both.