Day of Contempt

Day of Contempt: The Will to LiveThe Will to Live (2005)
Epitaph Records

Reviewer Rating: 1.5

Contributed by: Matt_WhelihanMatt Whelihan
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on November 1st 2005Remember 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 .

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.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (March 20, 2006)

They Are Still Great Even Though They Went The Eighteen Visions Way And Stopped Doing As Much Screaming And Putting Melodic Vocals In There.

rkl (November 4, 2005)

Day of Contempt - The Will to Live
Posted by LeightonESmith on 2005-11-02 03:28:37

I heard this and shook my head. They jumped on the band wagon. I saw DOC when they supported Throwdown in 02, it was a good concert. They have some brutal riffs and get the pit going. This whole sing scream thing is not what this band does best and it doesn't match their old material but hey, they will get rich. Go listen to Parkway Drive or Miles Away if you want to hear something good from Australia.
if i want to hear a good australian band, ill listen to trevor. probably .au's best output, its a shame that no ones ever heard of them.

i think i remember you from slsk, btw

GlassPipeMurder (November 3, 2005)

I think Epitaph has some good bands for the time being, but haven't signed anything good for awhile. Right now all I can think of off the top of my head is Bouncing Souls, Weakerthans, Pennywise, Pulley, Motion City Soundtrack, Bad Religion, Hot Water Music, and Millencolin. And of course everything from Hellcat is good, aside from Orange...man, they suck.

benz (November 3, 2005)

Epitaph still puts out some fucking great bands though.

Some Girls, Locust, and Converge have all put out awesome stuff recently with Epitaph.

-benz

Anonymous (November 3, 2005)

Pulley and the Souls are the only epitaph bands worth listening to.

---Trav.

Anonymous (November 2, 2005)

"Remember when Epitaph consistently put out great material?" Yeah, then they dropped the Dwarves, Zeke and New Bomb Turks and shit has been downhill since then.
I wanna see Brett listen to motherfucking "Scared Straight" or "Shape of Punk to Come" and then put this shit in and go "Yeah, man...I stiiiiiiillllllllllll got it!"

-Ken

(P.S. Myself and others have been forecasting the death of Epitaph for years now, and we used to get SO MUCH shit for it. Told you so, Fuckers!)

GlassPipeMurder (November 2, 2005)

mediocre at best.

Anonymous (November 2, 2005)

Right on Mindsnare are pretty good especialy after all these years, but Parkway Drive, please. There entertaining expecially if you see them up at Byron but after the 3rd song you realize all there songs are just written around a predictable beatdown so all the kung fu masters can bust out their shit. They are pretty dam good at that style if thats what yoy like but I think the best Aussie Hardcore is coming from Last Nerve (RIP), Miles Away, Just Say Go!!

DOC, IKTPQ are posers

Anonymous (November 2, 2005)

these guys have never been great, but i was a casual fan and i'd see em when then came to my town (in oz).
they were a derivative cross between earth crisis and hatebreed and never sounded remotely original, but there's a dearth of hardcore in oz compared to US to so they got somwhere. all gruff vocals and chugs etc
when i heard this ep i figured it musta been some other band w/ the same name... but alas no. this screamo/emo/mascara trend comes up and this band jumps right on board... i dont think i've EVER accused a band of selling out but i'm calling it here. Have you seen the photo on the fucking website ? - all fauxhawks, emo frinnges and fucking make up... big change from the tough guy get up of only 2 years ago. then the whiny sing scream shit with the most cliche 4th grade lyrics ever.. fuck give me strength..
i'm ashamed that most of the worlds idea of australian HC comes from sellout posers like this (also avoid I Killed the Prom Queen too (known here as I killed the Hardcore Scene)).. check out the aforementioned Parkway Drive and especially Mindsnare for a better idea of what we're capable of

DOC sell out and tarnish their legacy (which is no big deal) but at least they'll have a nice nest egg when the screamo trend dies

alexwank

LeightonESmith (November 2, 2005)

I heard this and shook my head. They jumped on the band wagon. I saw DOC when they supported Throwdown in 02, it was a good concert. They have some brutal riffs and get the pit going. This whole sing scream thing is not what this band does best and it doesn't match their old material but hey, they will get rich. Go listen to Parkway Drive or Miles Away if you want to hear something good from Australia.

Anonymous (November 2, 2005)

that lyric you posted from their album is hilarious. worst shit ever. i've met matchbook romance, worst shit ever there too. blegh.

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

yeah aussie hc. go you aussie tilt. as far as shitty metalcore goes, these guys fucking kill it. they rip live. yeah Aussie hardcore. so much better than sooo many shithouse immitation US bands. These guys have been playing hardcore since like 97, when it wasnt cool, its fuckin awesome that theyve got something out of the dedication that they have put into their music.

-Strewtho- (November 1, 2005)

This band is fucking shite.

"dreamo/money-schemo" - that's a gold comment. Get the dyed black combover hair then get the cash.

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

Hot Water Music, and Randy aren't on Epitaph right now, keep up would you, I was playin', I thought first too last was better than Matchbook Romance until I saw the last Epitaph dvd and I realized that Epitaph has a BUNCH of shitty bands add these to the list:

the Matches

Barkley

bemused (November 1, 2005)

As the guy below says, these guys used to be brutal (as in only 2 years ago!) Not sure what has changed to be honest, but I give 'em credit for landing a spot on a reputable label.

I completely agree with the reviewer, seems like I used to buy cd's based on the 'E' or the 'Fat' label back when I first got into this music. Some good memories of cranking out the Pennywise, Nofx and Bad Religion tunes.

-Chris-

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

Credit where credits due, these guys are the first Australian hardcore band to break out of the Aussie scene and make a permanent move to America. While I'm not a fan of the direction there music has taken good on em for doing well for themselves so far from home. Just to correct the guy a few posts below me there last album was actuall there second effort they put out an awesome EP in 1998 "where shadows lie". It was a very different lineup back then and the music was completely different. There was no emo, no singing, no make-up just pure hardcore and their shows were always off the hook n they were always the tightest band on the bill. Seeing their photo on the webpage and hearing all the emo melodic singing from samples highlights how much these guys have changed when I think back to the days of seeing DOC when Ben wore a wifebeater (singlet) or no shirt and they played nothing but brutal hardcore "DRAIN......MUTHAFUCKA.............OOOOH". That was the shit. Try n track that EP down and you'll think a bit differently about these guys.

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

There sure are a lot of really retarded band/album names this Tuesday.

sickboi (November 1, 2005)

Just further proof what went wrong with the "death" of EpiFat Skate Punk.

Fat - starts signing new trend of bands, melodic hardcore/post-punk/back-to-basics punk/rocknroll
(Lawrence Arms, D4, Against Me!, None More Black, Soviettes, Smoke or Fire, Strike Anywhere

Epitaph - starts signing other trend, the seemingly more "profitable" trend, emo/screamo/dreamo/money-schemo
(From First to Last, Day of Contempt, Matchbook Romance)

Both labels had a chance. Fat Mike, believe it or not, went with credibility, stability and bands that can sustain themselves.

Brettt saw Victory Records and thought "daaayyummmm!"

branden (November 1, 2005)

superdude, youre slippin dude

superdude (November 1, 2005)

This review was pretty good, but here's how I'd make it better:

1. Happy Birthday!

2. The other day my dog ate my girlfriends birthday cake. The next day she pooped out the candles.

3. Write a song about that!

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

Their first release was decent, but what I've heard of this one was really fucking dull.

RondoMondo (November 1, 2005)

I used to dig From First to Last. I still think they're an alright band. I wouldn't pick up their cd though.

JohnQ (November 1, 2005)

so they're nice guys. I'm a nice guy, and I'm not in a dumb band. That should make me better than these guys. I give myself a 6.

Allular (November 1, 2005)

I wouldn't worry too much about Epitaph. Even they have their fare share of crap, they still have a lot of other great bands who put out quality stuff.

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

Oh well at least Epitaph still has Converge, Hot Water Music, and Randy.....uh oh

I would add the Souls, Some Girls and Millencolin to that list.

Ramo

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

Oh well at least Epitaph still has Converge, Hot Water Music, and Randy.....uh oh

Barkley

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

I saw these guys open up for SAS/TERROR about a year ago...nothing special, but pretty cool guys. Then I saw that this came out. Nothing special, I assumed.

GreenVandal (November 1, 2005)

Got to love them rich white kids. So much angst for so little reason.

Anonymous (November 1, 2005)

One of the editors here in punknews.org got it right: if Josh Abramhs (sp) is producing this then something must not be right about it.

Ramo

tristan (November 1, 2005)

Nice dudes, but way boring

colin (November 1, 2005)

middle class white kids with everything to lose listen to that from first to last band, and this sounds no better.

etwiels88 (November 1, 2005)

Epitaph strikes out againnnn