In today's hard music scene, a lot of bands seem to have lost the lyrical edge. Though there is certainly nothing wrong with fun lyrics, there are times when it is nice to listen to serious, thought-provoking lyrics, especially when they are backed by seriously good music. Ancient of Days pulls this off quite well, as they play thinking man's, heartfelt music with extremely passionate lyrics.
It would be real easy to classify Ancient of Days as heavy emo rock. Many times the sound is reminiscent of bands like Mineral or Appleseed Cast, or even Dear Ephesus. The guitars thrive on simple yet insightful chord progressions and riffs much like that found in emo. But the music encompasses so much more than that. Energy and passion exudes from the speakers as the band makes the soft-to-hard musical transitions, and these transitions flow very nicely. Musically, there is nothing too complex, and it is this simplicity that makes the music so robust and powerful. Lyrically, the band is brutally honest and sincere. Each song is an outpouring of the heart, as topics like pain, trust, sin in one's life, and even acknowledgment of the awesomeness of God are delivered passionately to the listener. There is nothing shallow about these praises.
This CD is tremendous. Call it "thinking man's" emo rock if you want, or maybe just passionate heavy praise. Whatever it is, be sure to add it to your CD collection. Hopefully, this will not be the only output we see from these guys, as this is a great start.
Other coverage for this album
Dead Zine 2000Reviewed by thOrNYes this isn't a metal or even a hardcore band but they are signed to 316 records so you may be fooled into thinking they are either or both (though from what I understand the drummer used to play metal, really good). This band can be best described as emo-alternarock. Now as I see it I'm the only one at DEAD who even likes emo so it's good that no one else is reviewing this or it'd be forced to…
