Released: 2005
These days, there's so much metalcore coming out with so little to distinguish one band from the next that it's hard to be objective about the genre anymore. What was once a fresh new direction has simply turned into a great big cookie-cutter of short dyed hair, long shorts, brand new black t-shirts, At the Gates riffs and screaming. Not since everyone wanted to be Kurt Cobain has there been bandwagon-jumping on this sort of scale.
What does all this have to do with The Daylight Curse? Pretty much everything, really, but as this Sunshine Coast band's CD churned through the stereo I found myself getting into it much more than I thought I would, and that's a good sign.
Black and White Memories is unarguably metalcore, but The Daylight Curse brings to it a couple of things that many within the genre have forgotten: metal and diversity. For those two reasons alone, this band scores highly in my books. The Daylight Curse falls far more squarely on the metal side of things than other bands of their ilk. There's a technical aspect to their songwriting that really stands out and James Roberts shows himself to be quite a versatile vocalist. Morgan O'Rourke is also very much a metal-influenced guitarist, contributing some tidy and effective lead work. In the space of the first three songs, Black and White Memories displays more variety than a dozen other metalcore releases. "Till Death do Us Part" has an almost death metal vibe to it, right down to Roberts' vocals and the Arch Enemy-like technicality. In "The Show Must Go On...", a very distinctive Iron Maiden influence surfaces, something that appears here and there throughout the album. "Prepare to Burn" is where the first real metalcore idiosyncrasies arise with clean vocal melodies alternating with harsher sounds and a clearly commercial edge. The whole album could have gone to pot then, but it doesn't. The Daylight Curse maintains an individual approach to its chosen form for the length of the album, and at just eight songs, Black and White Memories doesn't wear out its welcome with generic filler and throwaway tracks.
Metalcore may have become a worn-out form as quickly as it appeared, but this shows there are a few bands playing it that still have something a bit unique to offer.
- Till Death do Us Part
- The Show Must Go On...
- Prepare to Burn
- Everyday is Dead Without You
- Long Song Pt. 1
- A Rat's Coffin
- Love Song Pt 2
- The Weight of the World
Rating: 84%
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