Antagony - Days of Night
Deepsend Records
Brutal/Melodic Death Metal/Hardcore
10 songs (34'04")
Release year: 2009
Deepsend Records
Reviewed by Alex
Surprise of the month

Oakland’s Antagony walked a thin plank. What could have been their biggest weakness – genre diversity – ultimately became the biggest attraction on their latest album Deepsend Records debut Days of Night. What could have sounded like an all over the place mess emerged as a cohesive picture, drawing on equal parts technical death metal, melodic Gothenburg and hardcore spirit.

Antagony multiple personalities are difficult to predict from the opener Terror, a rather brutal technical blasting death metal with superfluid guitar runs. If anything is to give away how the album will unfold, it is that the main voice is not Suffocation bottomless growl, and some backing voices also layer into the vocal attack. The follower The Truth Will Be Known does a 180 degree turn away from Terror and plunges into melodic Gothenburg sound through and through, like there is no tomorrow. If anything, this song does remind me of the Evereve early days on Stormbirds, Antagony’s main vocalist Carlos Saldana sounding very passionate, screaming, pouring out his soul akin to Tom Sedotschenko (RIP) on The Downfall.

There are still straightforward brutal tracks on Days of Night. Exhale Her Poison borders on deathcore and El Banquete whips itself up into a frenzied thrash, until it collapses into the string outro. Yet, most songs on Days of Night take unexpected turns, so all of the 30+ minutes the album lasts, you are constantly thinking: “What’s next?” The ominous epic march The Ladder constantly grows in pace and intensity, the title track provides the brooding hardcore outlook and Voyage changes tones faster than chameleon changes colors. And just as you thought Exhale Her Poison will finally settle the album into the predictable rut, cello Interlude leads the way for Undying Sun’s main riff, structured tight chop Vore would be proud of.

What unites this concoction throughout is the hefty package of emotion beginning with The Truth Will Be Known and spilling over the top by the time Days of Night is over. This is no cheap, whiny, makeup touched mallcore sentiment, but instead, as Undying Sun shows, a melodic wave of sound locked into a passionate plea deserving to be heard.

Killing Songs :
The Truth Will Be Known, Undying Sun, Days of Night
Alex quoted 78 / 100
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