DAY OF DOOM - THE SECOND COMING

DAY OF DOOM 
THE SECOND COMING 

Reviewed by: Jessie “Motor Mouth”

I purchased a copy of Day of Doom’s release, “The Second Coming”, recently (on February 2, 2017), and it blew my mind on the first take. At first, I thought I would be listening to a Doom Metal band (which is my first choice of metal these days). I'm sure many like myself would think this way because of their band name. But the words, "never judge a book by its cover", rang true in this case, yet again.

I slapped Day Of Doom's "The Second Coming” into my CD player (yes, folks I still own one), and it blew my mind  This CD brings me back to the old school Death Metal days of cassette tapes. Back then, they released albums where you would have an A side and a B side. Either there were two releases on each side, or the album was split with half the songs on side A, and the rest of the songs on side B. In this case, it was as if you had two complete albums on each side.  You’re getting two past albums on one CD with this release that features both “Night of Horror” and “Slaves of Insanity".  I would be highly interested if Day of Doom will release this on both cassette tape and vinyl sometime down the road.

I cranked it up to 10, and was in for a brutal awakening. I think many of you will agree this is pure crushing Death Metal from New York. Day of Doom should never go unrecognized with their talents that is sweeping the nations worldwide.  Now, most of you heard of bands such as Suffocation and Gorguts, but you never know when something like this is lingering around the USA somewhere out there. It will kick you right in your ball sack, and knock you to your knees. Day of Doom deserves a high and mighty notice and recognition within the crushing brutal Death Metal scene. This is as raw as it comes. The blast beats and rolls made me sink into my current dwellings. I was  especially excited to hear a drummer playing away, and not some drum machine or program. It was refreshing to actually hear drums getting played by a human behind a kit, and on another note, it wasn't too trigger happy. Yes, Rich Hervey used some triggers, but it’s not overbearing or overcooked like my girlfriend makes her steaks.

Doug Randazzo's, guitar sections were brilliant with fast delivery and sickness. Both the leads and rhythms sounded like they came from beyond the abyss of hell.

Sam Lara’s bass lines were not hidden or buried six feet under.  The lead growls done by Sam were deep and clear. Definitely the kind of vocals that hit you like a hard punch to your throat. At times you’ll hear different vocal changes within each song. I had wondered if each member was taking a few verses.  This is a testament to the well rooted backing vocals of both Rich and Doug. Each growl, whether it was the leads or backing growls ripped my spine out.  Day of Doom are the true breed of what crushing old school Death Metal is all about. And they possess a unique style that is definitively their own. They are in a league of their own, in my personal opinion as a fan of the Death Metal scene.

As I mentioned earlier you’re in for a treat with this double album. "The Second Coming” contains two of their rare first releases making this one hell of a release all rolled into one. I look at is as them giving something back to the death metal family, and to its fans. Whether you are an old school fan, or are only recently getting into our scene, I recommend contacting Day of Doom on Facebook to get your own copy for your personal collection.

When first listening to “Night of Horror” (which I considered Part I), my favorite songs were “Tempest of Revenge”, “Nightmare Child” and “Womb of Hell”. Each of these songs were blasphemous and demonic from every note to the darkest growls. All seven tracks from this release were intense, sick, well-written, and stood the full course in representing what crushing death metal should be offering.

Now this brings me to “Slaves of Insanity". With another 7 tracks that were re-recorded, I almost wished I had heard the first release of this album so I could give a short comparison to see if they made any changes. In most cases, its usually on the production end these changes occur since we didn’t have all the modern technology we have now back in the day. All though it's re-recorded, it does not lose that rawness or thin out at all. Again, you hear pure drumming skills coming from a drum kit that sounds miced up.  Lunatic drumming, flaming guitar riffs, wicked soloing, thick bass lines, and the to perfect growls are all present here as well.  Not one track gets boring, but the release intensifies and  thickens as it plays on too. By the time it's done, I'm  left feeling very impressed which is something that doesn’t happen to often these days.