Blood Days – Last day on earth EP
Blood Days can be called an all-star band I guess. All star bands are tricky things in my opinion. Tricky in the sense that expectations rise. And high expectations are not that easy to match. Occasionally you’ll find a band that actually lives up to expectations. Blood Days appears to be one of those bands.
Let’s start at the beginning. In this band we’ll find Joe D Foster (Uniform Choice, Unity, Ignite, Speak 714, Killing Flame) and Gavin Ogelsby (Triggerman, No For An Answer, Carry Nation) on guitar, John Lorey (Uniform Choice, Unity) on bass, Casey Jones (Ignite, Killing Flame, No For An Answer) on drums and, last but not least Jae Hansel (Outspoken, Mean Season, Parades End, The Twilight Transmission) on vocals. That’s a lot of potential in one band. You’ll also notice these guys have something in common considering the bands they’ve played in or play in. The influences these guys bring from those bands really shine through. The thing I notice most is how recognizable Joe D Fosters guitar playing and songwriting is. Blood Days reminds me a lot of Ignite. I can’t help but wonder if that’s the band that springs to mind as it is one of the first hardcore bands I listened to (and I listened to Ignite a lot back in the day!).
With that of my chest I’ll continue with the music. The six songs on Last day on earth are excellent examples of OC hardcore as you know it. It’s very melodic and sounds very positive. In this style of hardcore, to me, the voice is what makes or breaks it. Of the whole line up, Jae Hansel is the only one I didn’t know, so beforehand I was curious what he would sound like. He doesn’t disappoint. His voice is very similar to Zoli (Ignite), which brings Blood Days even closer to that band. From this you may have distilled that originality is nowhere to be found on this EP. If you did: you are absolutely right. That is not necessarily a downside though. Last day on earth sounds fresh and energetic as it should be.
So far for the praise on this EP. There’s some nitpicking to be done. Production values are very important to me. I’m the kind of person that refuses to listen to a record if I feel the production kills it. In other words: I can’t listen through a bad production and still enjoy the good music. This introduction is a bit over-dramatic perhaps, but I really do feel the production of this EP is not good enough. My complaints are focused on the drum sound, which is way to thin. I need drums to pound away, to be able to feel their power! That power is lacking in the production. The hi-hat is too much upfront overpowering the rest of the drums, making it sound to thin to my liking. It doesn’t kill the listening experience, but I would enjoy this more with a better production.
In the end, this is an all star band that delivered. There’s this a small issue with the production, but still… I urge all melodic hardcore lovers to check out this band. You should be finding something you enjoy!
Back to reviews overview