New Years Day - "Half Black Heart"
They do have some good album covers, though
After five years, New Years Day is back with a new album. The California-based Alt-Metal outfit got their start in the 00s through marketing themselves on MySpace.
Yeah. I said MySpace. Makes you feel old, huh?
“At least I have you, Tom…”
Anyhow, The last time we heard from New Years Day on 2019’s Unbreakable, the band had incorporated a lot of Industrial Metal in their sound, and it worked. Those influences are all but gone on Half Black Heart, though. The core focus of this album seems to be a return to a heavier Gothic sound. The Gothic still feels a bit light, in my opinion, but it’s present enough to make the Alt Metal base less basic and more palatable.
If you read my review on Amaranthe’s new album last week, you might notice some similarities in the review below…I’ll summarize:
The album launches in attack mode and stays there, only backing down for a couple of tracks (mostly just “Unbreak My Heart”, which is an odd song to find on this album after their last album being “Unbreakable”);
Each of the album’s 12 tracks is within a tight range of 48 seconds from shortest (2:54) to longest (3:42), so each song is radio-ready;
There is no real throughline to consider; this is just a collection of solid songs.
There’s not a bad track here. All twelve songs are solid, though a few, like “Bulletproof” and “Burn It All Down”, are higher on the banger scale. However, some others are so focused on going hard that melodicism is an afterthought, at best, and the production elements which were present on Unbreakable have also been stripped out.
Ash Costello’s strong vocal work – both clean and harsh – provides much-needed emotionality on several tracks (which also tend to be the more melodic songs), and she also leads from the front on the harder tracks. The band’s new lineup (with three of five being ‘new’ members – in quotes because they were all previously with the band at some point) is very tight and polished, as well.
Overall, Half Black Heart provides some good, solidly heavy music, but it also lacks depth on a sizable portion of the album. It’s really good, but doesn’t do enough to stand out and earn its way into a higher score bucket.
Rating: Green