Remember when Epitaph consistently put out great material? During my high school days half my CD collection was adorned with the ever-recognizable "E." Bands like Refused, Osker, Millencolin, Pulley, the Bouncing Souls, and NOFX (among others) almost blew out the crappy speakers in my mom's station wagon, and Punk-O-Rama tours were actually worth seeing.
So what happened? Well, some of those bands called it quits, some put out disappointing albums, and some are still managing to sneak their new releases into my CD case.
With some roster space left vacant by break-ups and dropped artists, Epitaph has had the opportunity to snatch up some new talent, but instead they've been content to sign disappointing acts like Matchbook Romance, From First to Last, and now, Day of Contempt.
With Day of Contempt, it looks like Mr. Brett was hoping to fill that "screamer during the verses, singer during the choruses" sound. Hints of metalcore, hardcore, and emo combine to make The Will to Live a boring EP filled with "heavy" music that is incredibly light in the substance department.
The first thing you will notice about Day of Contempt is that the screams sound ridiculously strained, like the guy is yelling into a mic for the first time in his life. Then the melodic side of the band kicks in (exactly where you would expect it) and it is not very impressive either.
What can usually save bands of this type, or at least make them tolerable, is some technical riffing, but that is not the case here. Instead the songs sound like only one of Thrice's guitarists showed up for practice, so he has to stick to the rhythm parts. The most technical these guys get is little clichéd bursts of metal.
Lyrically, the band fare no better. Day of Contempt run through lines you've heard a thousand times before. If "Pulling forgotten heartstrings I can't feel, I can't feel. Burnt bridges aren't for crossing, they don't heal," doesn't sound familiar enough to you, then just check out the direct Simon and Garfunkel rip off of "Hello darkness my old friend," in "Shattered Dreams and Broken Hearts."
After to listening to this EP, all I can say is that I hope the future holds better releases for Epitaph.