:: The Day Late - The Day Late

The Day Late

Over the last few years, there’s been tremendous growth within the Australian progressive/alternative rock scene, with several names starting to make a name for themselves out of the ever-growing movement. One name that’s starting to get banded around is Gippsland based outfit The Day Late, who recently released their self-titled EP. While the band have been around in one form or another for close to five years, it was only ten months ago that they consolidated their current line-up, prompting the band to finally venture into their own studio, and emerge with their debut effort. Running for just over a minute, the sound effects/keyboard driven piece ‘The Prodrome’ serves as an introductory piece in the lead up to the first official track ‘Sirens’. With a slow build up, ‘Sirens’ boasts a strong and atmospheric keyboard presence underlining the verses, before eventually allowing the heavy guitar riffing through the choruses. Despite initially sounding promising, ‘Sirens’ doesn’t quite manage to get off the ground due to a weak chorus, and Hayes lack of strength in the vocal department. The follow up track ‘Gluttony (Repent)’ again starts out with a promising proposition with its huge chunky riffing and its slow build up towards the chorus, and it’s here that the band finally manage to deliver. Although some of the heavier moments don’t quite gel, and the chorus structures could do with a little more work, ‘Sirens’ is overall a strong track. It isn’t until ‘Solemn Chant’ that The Day Late really prove just what they’re truly capable off, with the song featuring just the right amount of heaviness, progressiveness and melodic appeal to make it absolutely stand out. From here, The Day Late just seem to improve with every song hereafter, with the dramatic ‘Drop’, ‘Wither & Fade’ and the gentle piano based closer ‘Ghost’ all maintaining the same high standard of consistency of strong and memorable song writing. Putting aside the somewhat weak production value, and the shaky couple of efforts, overall The Day Late have released a good first effort, and one that at the very least, hints at some real potential for the band’s future endeavours.