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Daylight Dies - Biography


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1996-

Biography

When North Carolina's Daylight Dies started as a project of Barre Gambling and Jesse Haff in 1996, little did they know the vehicle they created together would blossom into one of metal's most promising upstarts.

Due to geographical constraints, Barre and Haff's Daylight Dies were delayed three years before an initial rough compilation of raw ideas surfaced as "The Long Forgotten Demo". It wasn't until a year later that the two core members would add a permanent vocalist in the form of Guthrie Iddings.

With a vocalist in place, the trio then proceeded to record a second demo in early 2000, 'Idle,' which further illustrated the band's musical and compositional growth. 'Idle' created such an impact locally that Tribunal Records picked up the demo and repackaged it. The demo was lauded for its attention to detail, melody and atmosphere. For many, it filled the gap no other stateside act thus far could achieve.

A year after the recording and release of 'Idle,' Egan O'Rourke was enlisted as the full-time bassist. As a quartet, the band quickly starting writing together and the first work to come out of the revamped line-up was a label-only two-song demo. The demo was shipped to various labels who had expressed interest early on. The strength of the music alone was enough to land Daylight Dies an offer from Relapse Records. In late 2001, Daylight Dies signed to the label.

Once signed to Relapse, the quartet completed writing their debut full-length. Titled, 'No Reply,' the album contained nine songs which displayed a steady progression and far more encompassing than 'Idle.' 'No Reply' captured a somewhat doomier and varied sound, improving on the bands dark and catchy qualities. 'No Reply''s physical and emotional weight was greater than most anticipated from such a fledgling band and received many rave reviews. Terrorizer magazine called it "memorable and engaging", Outburn proclaimed it "pristine doom metal" and Digital Metal added "a combination of dark melody and deathly aggression."

Daylight Dies embarked on numerous tours in support of 'No Reply' upon its release. Touring Europe with Katatonia and the U.S. and Canada with Lacuna Coil - as well as numerous high profile festivals and one offs - the band proved they are an energetic live act and a force to be reckoned with in the international metal movement.

Following touring for 'No Reply', Daylight Dies replaced vocalist Guthrie Iddings with Nathan Ellis. Charlie Shackelford also joined as a full-time second guitarist. Both earned the coveted positions on the strength of their abilities and impressive rehearsals with the band.

In August 2005 Daylight Dies finally entered the studio to record their second full length album, entitled 'Dismantling Devotion'. The material was mixed and mastered in Sweden by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios and mastered by Thomas Eberger at The Cutting Room.

Dismantling Devotion saw the band charting significant new territory from previous output. O'Rourke contributed several segments of clean vocals, an up-right bass is utilized in spots and acoustic, clean and heavy guitars often mixed for an extremely lush sound. The songs are as haunting, dark and dynamic the band has yet created. "Dismantling Devotion is certainly the most mature material we've written to date." Haff explained, "It's a strong progression of our emotionally dark and desperate music, exceedingly rich in texture and details. Expect a diverse mix of music which is heavy, melodic and always melancholic."

Daylight Dies signed to Candlelight Records in November, 2005. Dismantling Devotion was released in March of 2006 and the band filmed their first music video for the song 'Lies that Bind' in June. It was later accepted for airplay on MTV and VH1.

As of January 2007, Daylight Dies has supported the new album with two high profile gigs and their first full North American tour. In July, the band were main support for Emperor during two capacity crowd reunion shows in New York City. For four weeks during parts October and November, Daylight Dies participated in a massive 11,000 mile North American tour together with Moonspell and Katatonia which covered the entire United States and numerous cities in Canada.

The band is currently writing material for their third studio album.