Review by Jack on January 6, 2005.

From the depths of Australia come Daysend touting an impressive blend of rock, good ol’ metal, hints of melodic death and hardcore influences. Now understandably a lot of non-Australian folks would not have heard head nor tail of the bands that the various members of Daysend are comprised of. But for those of us who are into the Australian metal scene Daysend has a history with Psi.Kore, Automation, Deadspawn and Redsands.

Severance didn’t initially grab me straight away. I thought it was a little gimmicky and perhaps ‘clean’ to have much appeal for seasoned metal heads. However, obviously early listens on a new record don’t often tell a full tale and such is the case with Severance. A few weeks down the track and I was finding myself listening more and more to Daysend’s debut. Having had this record for quite some time now I can honestly say I am getting more hooked into Severance with each and every listen.

The real clincher for Severance is the addicting hooks and smart songwriting. These guys although pretty damn young know what they are doing. It’s clear Daysend have put thought into each track on Severance and as the old adage goes "no fillers, only killers." On a more personal note what I really love about Severance is that I can actually understand what vocalist Simon Calabrese is singing about enough to sing along too. And well all know every self-respecting metal fan loves nothing better than to sing along with a good metal tune. With Severance you can almost sing along with the whole album! How good is that!?

The world needs more Daysends. These guys are the sort of outfit that have enough mainstream potential that they could net some major radioplay and hopefully hook some of the mainstream fans into the world of metal.

Severance, for a debut record can’t be praised highly enough. Comprised of solid songwriting, a vocalist you can sing along with and some addictive riffs, hopefully Daysend have made only the first step in what is a long career.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10