Release
date: October 5th 2015. Label: When Planets Collide. Formats: CD/DD
From
The Gutter To The Gods - Tracklisting
1.MMXV
2.
Beyond the zero
3.
Misery swallowed whole
4.
Through the eyes of Daedalus
5.
Apokalypsis
6.
And the wages of sin is death
7.War
nam nihadan
8.
Damnation of memory
Band
Members:
NEILL
- 7 String Madness and vocal gurns
HEINIMANN
- Bass Quakes
GUY
- Mind Hammering Beat Grafting
Review:
The
Day Of Locusts debut album – From The Gutter To The Gods – is a
very hard album to describe and possibly enjoy especially for the
less adventurous music fans out there. The Day Of Locusts music can
be described as a lot of things – Doom, Sludge, Post-Metal, Folk,
Prog Metal and Stoner. It’s hard to decide as the band doesn’t
make it easy for the listener as they constantly change direction
every few minutes or so.
The
best description comes from the guys themselves or at least the PR
sheet that came with the album. ‘Crowbar fighting Pink Floyd
in quicksand.’ – Opening track – MMXV – is a
progressive sludge instrumental track that’s dliberately slow-paced
as it allows the band to create some haunting groove based riffs with
a slight psychedelic edge.
Second
track – Beyond The Zero – is a 12 minute song that offers you the
first real glimpse of The Day Of Locusts. Down-tuned
Sludge/Post-Metal riffs with loud demonic vocals to match. The music
shifts from a distilled thrash metal approach to a heavier prog-metal
style and it instantly draws you in as it has quite the doom and
gloom atmosphere. The sound could have done with a little bit more
“OOOMPH” as it’s not clear at times. Other than that, The Day
Of Locusts creates a haunting and highly atmospheric song.
You
begin to sense early on with the album that the band likes to
experiment with their sound and tease you to a wide range of
different sounds and noises. Third track – Misery Swallowed Whole –
is another epic song from the album. Almost 15 mins this time. It
opens with a folk-rock guitar solo before the band opt for a
Progressive Sludge/Post-Metal feel with a hefty sideline of noisy and
violent psychedelic riffs. The vocals are sung with anger and
precision which make this one of the standout songs on the album.
Shades of Opeth can be heard here and there especially when the
harmonized orchestral vocals appear. Heavenly, blissful but when
matched against the heavier prog-metal riffs then you have a
jaw-dropping moment of brilliance.
Fourth
track – Through The Eyes Of Daedulus – will have fans of old
school Thrash/Doom Metal rejoicing as the band offer something
different once more. The vocals move away from the albums earlier
sounds with doomy angelic vocals being sung from time to time though
when the familiar harsh vocals of lead vocalist – Neill – then
chaos and destruction return to reign supreme. The riffs are superb
once again with the band playing a wide range of different styles.
Fifth
track – Apokalypsis – is an ambient post-rock driven song with
the band trying something different yet again. It’s not the most
exciting of sounds but it’s good to see a tender and caring side
from the band. Sixth track – And The Wages Of Sin is Death – sees
the band go for a classic NWOBHM style sound matched against Thrash
Metal riffs. Though you can still hear a Doom/Post-Metal influence in
the background.
Seventh
track – War Nam Nihadan – is another ambient based song that
lasts less than 90 seconds. It could have easily been left out but I
let the guys off here as there are some fantastic sounds on the
record. Doom, Ambient, Noise and Drone wrapped up in one loving
sinister gloomy package. It leads onto the final song – Damnation
Of Memory – and this is where the band starts to experiment with
your mind as they offer 70s style Psych Rock, Folk, Doom, Sludge and
anything else they can muster. It may start off as a love letter to
bands such as Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis but this is a Metal band at
heart. The heavier destructive riffs are never too far behind. It’s
a loving embrace of Psych/Folk Rock vibes matched against the heavy
thunderous Sludge/Doom/Post-Metal riffs.
My
final thoughts are that From The Gutter To The Gods is simply an
unmissable album. The Day Of Locusts may have created one of the
craziest, insane, and exciting debut albums the UK Extreme Metal
scene has released this year or any year for that matter.
Thanks
to When Planets Collide for the promo. From The Gutter To The Gods
will be available to buy on CD/DD from When Planets Collide from
October 5th 2015.
Words
by Steve Howe
Links:
