The Twilight Transmission

The Dance of Destruction (2005)

Jordan Rogowski

This Day Forward was a band really starting to take off when they broke up in 2003. In Response marked a great progression for the band, fusing a new found atmospheric melody with their aggressive hardcore sound of old. As usual, the good die young, and none of the members have done anything noteworthy since they disbanded.

Revelation's the Twilight Transmission want to make you forget about that. While they're definitely no carbon copy, a lot of the sounds of This Day Forward's final album resonate within The Dance of Destruction. The guitar tones share a lot of similar qualities, sitting comfortably in the middle of melody and discordance, with a strong, present undercurrent. The tight percussion further propels each track through its post-hardcore path, and each of those individual tracks has a strong unique identity with its fair share of memorable riffs and choruses. The layered constructions also leaves something new to be discovered each time, be it a quick bass bridge or anthemic shouting. "The Flow" depends on some extremely deep bass licks and upbeat chord progressions, amidst screams of "If you don't agree, you just don't feel the flow" right before Brian Balchack reenergizes things with a quick guitar solo. The Twilight Transmission may not be quite as aggressive as This Day Forward was, but they've definitely got some teeth. "Undefeated" makes this well known, and though it's the longest of the eight songs on the album, it surely doesn't feel like it. Starting off rather slowly quickly things pick up, and singer Jae Hansel lets his wicked vocals really take off.

Hansel may not necessarily be the centerpiece of the album; throughout the album's half an hour course every member of the band gets to show exactly what they do well. Individually and as a collective, things meld together flawlessly to create an authentic recreation of the late `90s post-hardcore scene. Splashes of Quicksand and This Day Forward abound, the five-piece creates its own niche in the aggressive music market.

This band won't be in the dark for long.