Daybreak: Monstrous Mosh From The West Coast

The Perth heavy music scene has some new kids on the block, and they are heavy as all fuck!

Not to be confused with their contemporary metalcore outfit Daybreakers or the Melbourne punk rock band of the same, Perth's Daybreak last week unveiled their dark and brutal new single, 'Lost Sentience'.

In what is practically a rite of passage for Australian heavy bands at this point, the metalcore-deathcore crossover sound of 'Lost Sentience' features Mark Poida of Aversions Crown fame on guest vocals. (I mean, if it's not Poida in the guest spot, then it's either Rheese Peters or CJ McMahon, right?).

Anyway, the song's music video - shot by Split Mask Media - is a tale of a man locked in a dark, dingy basement, who after ingesting several substances is tied down by "demons" and tortured; eventually succumbing to his wounds and sent to meet his maker as a friend/family member finds his corpse. Yet the video's narrative hints that the man's captors and "demons" were never there at all and more or less states that deep substance abuse and unstable mental health are never, ever a good mix. (I mean, yeah, obviously).

Look, it's a pretty cliché film clip all up, and while it does match the tone of 'Lost Sentience', it's the song itself in this equation that comes out the strongest.

This mammoth new track is actually but the first stop you hit once you're inside the gates of their forthcoming EP, 'Death Dreams', which will be released on Friday, July 28th. For this second EP, Daybreak worked with Iconoclast guitarist, Cody Brooks - also based out in Perth - who mixed and mastered the release.

Now, you might be wondering how the rest of this release stacks up? And if you're not, then tough shit. After having recently scored an early copy of 'Death Dreams', I can safely say that this devilishly slick, crunchy and groove laden seven-track EP is indeed a solid one!

Once the savagery of 'Lost Sentience' wraps up, Daybreak goes in for the kill with the violent call-out track of 'They Don't Know The Real You', the bone-cracking mosh assault of 'The Possessor' and the cathartic tale of the titular track; whose clean vocals are both tasteful and well-implemented. 'Death Dreams' then hits its true high point with my personal favourite song, the crushing standout of 'Loose Ends', and the overly aggro-breakdowns of the penultimate track, 'Repulse', which sees Polaris's Jamie Hails lending his voice to his West Coast buds.

Sadly, this EP does end on a poor note with the practically pointless 70-seconds of 'Outcast'. This needless song comes complete with one final breakdown to help meet their mosh-pit inducing half-time quota (cause we definitely needed more - not); all with a glitchy electronic sample and the most "deathcore" sounding guitar lead you've likely ever heard to conclude things. Other than that final misstep, 'Death Dreams' is a worthy EP.

Of course, if you're an avid listener of fellow Aussie acts like Graves, Alpha Wolf, Aversions Crown, and Iconoclast, then you'll know exactly what you're in for with this metalcore/deathcore band musically speaking. However, these guys bend, break and mould those tired sounds well enough. For despite Daybreak delivering something that's no doubt generic, there is a thin, fine line between good generic and bad generic, and this budding young band easily sits on the former side. What also helps matters here is the fact that the Perth quintet kept these seven songs - bar two - under the three-minute mark. And as stated in my recent Oceano review, that's something that I really do appreciate when it comes to deathcore. As that way a band doesn't unnecessarily blow-out their release's length, they keep the heaviness succinct and impactful, and they don't risk wasting the listeners precious time.

Ergo, be sure to give 'Death Dreams' a good look-in come July 28th!

Header photo credit: our boy, James Kilian. 

You can pre-order 'Death Dreams' on iTunes here and you can grab any and all physical copies and merch bundles from the band directly.