Death By Stereo - Day of the Death (Cover Artwork)
Staff Pick

Death By Stereo

Day of the Death (2001)

Epitaph


The highly anticipated follow up to Death By Stereo's Indecision release, "If Looks Could Kill...". There were quite a few things I was thinking when I got this. "Will it be more hardcore? More punk? a mix? ska?". Well not really ska, but anything's possible. Of course to find out, I have to pop this thing in my player. Of course expecting a similar intro to that of "If Looks Could Kill..." I pumped up the volume, and it started..

The beginning of "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Salvation." All I have to say is, holy shit. The thunderous drums of Tim Bender combined with the heavy guitars and bass makes their sound seem HUGE. I can't even begin to tell you how big of a sound they have. This song is extremely well crafted, it is fast paced, filled with incredible guitar fills, and the pace never slows down. Efrem's incredible ability to combine hardcore vocals and singing really shines on this album. The next 2 songs "Getting it Off My Chest" and "91" keep up the pace that was set by "No Shirt...", and never slows down.

From start to end, this is an incredible album, from hardcore songs like "You Mess With One Bean..." to really original songs like "Desperation Train", make this the hardcore release of the year. My favorite track on this CD was "Porno, Sex, Drugs, Lies, Money and Your Local Government" The instrumental work on this CD is beyond incredible, the guitar bass and drum parts are put together very well, Efrem's singing totally fits in. He also writes incredible lyrics, very well written out.

So what have Death By Stereo created with this release? They have made a name for themselves. This CD shows that Death By Stereo is definately going somewhere, if they keep putting out albums of this calibur, then there is nothing to stop them except themselves. No band will be able to stop these guys, no hardcore band has this much talent, no hardcore band has this much potential, no hardcore band even comes close. This album encompasses emotion, power, strength, and anger. It's going to be a while until another hardcore band can top "Day of the Death", and in my opinion, the only band that can do it is Death By Stereo themselves.