Albums•November 29, 2011•17,417 views

It Dies Today The Caitiff Choir

01. My Promise 02. Severed Ties Yield Severed Heads 03. The Radiance 04. The Depravity Waltz 05. A Threnody for Modern Romance 06. Marigold 07. Freak Gasoline Fight Accident 08. The Caitiff Choir: Revelations 09. Our Disintegration 10. Naenia 11. The Caitiff Choir: Defeatism

2004 Trustkill Records

Our score 8

by Graham Landers

10/8/2004

Few bands of the metalcore genre, otherwise known as the 'New Breed of Heavy Music,' have sparked my interest in the past couple years. Bands like Bleeding Through and their eerie atmospheric take on punishing hardcore, and Killswitch Engage with their catchy hooks yet intense delivery, are a few of the bands that still keep me wanting more of this genre before it goes away. One of the bands that has since their inception is Buffalo's It Dies Today. This band has previously released an EP on Life Sentence Records and after extensive US touring, the band got picked up by the hardcore graveyard known as Trustkill. Although a certain commercial appeal is easily heard upon making it past the opening track, "My Promise," there are still more than enough chances to crush your fellow core alumni throughout this record. There are also more than enough chances to shed a tear, or raise your lit cigarette lighter/cell phone, or whichever comes first. Songs like "Severed Ties Yield Severed Heads" explore a lyrical approach that could easily find it's way onto any Bleeding Through album or Remembering Never's "She Looks So Good In Red." Describing the darker aspects of humanity is a trait that listeners have come to expect from It Dies Today. You can literally feel the weight "Freak Gasoline Fight Accident," which has become a crowd favorite in the two+ years since it's been written and played live. The most notable change is the addtion of medodic hooks and powerful choruses into brutal and punishing sound. "A Threnody for Modern Romance" is also the band's first single, a prime example of the band sticking to their punishing roots, but incorporates almost Hoobastank-esque hooks with melodic vocals that would put even the drummer of Atreyu to shame. I think the track "Naenia" would've made a better single, but that’s just me. Seriously though, the way the music industry has shifted recently into actually accepting what was at least once considered in my mind as "good" music, It Dies Today should be able to ride this new wave all the way to the mainstream (or at least onto one of the stages at next year's OzzFest). I was very excited to hear this record. I will be honest, I knew that it was going to be more melodic because that's just the nature of Trustkill's roster these days, an the scene to some extent. You have to have something that could be deemed as single worthy (unless you're Nora or have ex-members of some hardcore heavyweight) in order for this label to even look at you cross-eyed. But, I’m not going to fault them for that. This record kills inside and out all the way down to the stunning layout. There is something for everyone here. Any fans of Bleeding Through, Eighteen Visions or Remembering Never will instantly in love with It Dies Today and many more will too. Bottom Line: Trustkill, as un-hardcore as they've become, know what they are doing. They have a framework of what they are looking for in bands. It also doesn't hurt that they have Sony's money to help them secure a solid roster of bands either. But at any rate, this is the best Trustkill release since Harvest's "Living With A God Complex." I’ve already listened to it easily 20 times in just the 3 days that I've had it in my possession and I can't imagine a day without it in constant rotation. It's one of those records. I'm not saying that this record is for everyone because it's not. No record is. But, if you like any of the aforementioned bands, you will not be disappointed.

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agent_friday_ 10/8/2004 3:47:30 PM

no gay just pee.

It Dies Today The Caitiff Choir

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