Dark New Day fans waited for what seemed like an eternity for new music following 2005′s Twelve Year Silence, and now within just a few short months we’ve received what feels like an overwhelming abundance in the form of two full new records, with the possibility of a third on the way. The band quietly self-released two albums this past August, with no press, social media or any kind of attention surrounding them. The first was Hail Mary, the supposed second Dark New Day record that was never released, and the other was a B-Sides collection; both are available through Amazon, linked above. And now, according to a press release, Dark New Day are supposedly releasing ANOTHER album, although it’s being heralded as their long-awaited second. Huh?

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Maybe we shoulda called it MetaSucks?

ANYWAY, here’s some shit we did this week:

• The Austerity Program’s Justin Foley responded to Dr. Katrina McFerran’s study on teens, depression, and music. Then Dr. McFerran responded to Justin’s response. Then Justin responded to McFerran’s response to his response. Then I went permanently cross-eyed.
• We debuted new music by Keith Merrow’s Demisery.
• We spoke to Corey Lowery from Dark New Day and Eye Empire.
• We checked out the latest release from Astomatous and H20, Ringworm, Mindsnare, and Soul Search.
• We showed you some nice photos from both Day 1 and Day 2 of The Metal Suckfest.
• We counted down The Seven Most Metal Video Games Ever Made.
• We were bummed to learn that guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries are leaving Chimaira at the end of the year.
• We were even more bummed to see Chris Barnes shilling for used cars.
• We argued about the best metal albums of the 90s.
• We found something even worse than Lulu: LIVE Lulu.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I haven’t gotten blackout drunk in a week.

-AR

After years of waiting, Dark New Day fans finally got to hear the band’s second record, Hail Mary, this past August, along with an equally impressive B-sides collection. For those of us that had waited patiently the release of these two albums was heartily welcomed, but it also raised a number of questions: why’d it take so long, and why now? what went south with the record label? why do all of these songs sound so different?

There hasn’t been any press whatsoever surrounding Hail Mary‘s release — the band put it out quietly and independently through digital retailers (they’re on Amazon) — but bassist Corey Lowery, whose past bands also include Stuck Mojo and Stereomud, agreed to chat with me last week about all things Dark New Day. We also got to talking about Corey’s new band Eye Empire, an incredibly talented group who I cannot recommend enough to fans of Dark New Day and Sevendust.

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The long-awaited second Dark New Day record is finally out! Not only that, but the band has decided to reward fans — the few of us that remain, I suppose — for their long wait by releasing a second full album of B-sides along with it.

Both albums were released digitally via Amazon in late August with little or no to-do. We didn’t get any press releases or correspondence of any kind from anyone related to the band; one day it just appeared on Amazon, and that was that. Supposedly Clint Lowery tweeted about it; talk about a PR push! I’m gunning for a band interview to find out more about the situation that led to these albums being released — Warner Brothers stopped caring and gave the band back their masters? band bought them back? someone else bought the rights? none of the above? — but until then let’s all just be happy this music is FINALLY seeing the light of day.

I absolutely loved Dark New Day’s one and only album, 2005′s Twelve Year Silence, so I’ve been anticipating a second album for quite some time. I’ve been listening to both Hail Mary, the proper second album, and the B-sides release non-stop since I downloaded them. And if you’re like me, Hail Mary and B-sides are a bit of a mixed bag. There’s good, and there’s not-so-good:

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• FORMER MEMBER OF GN’R NOBODY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT DELIVERS HIS REACTION TO CHINESE DEMOCRACY TO A MIRROR: “Yes, I listened to it on a long drive to Phoenix, Arizona,” ex-GN’R rhythm guitarist Gilby ‘I Swear I’m Not Izzy’ Clarke allegedly told “a fan” (actually his reflection). “But there was [sic] too many slow-to-midtempo songs on it for my taste and some of the solos are a little overdone; they don’t match the song.” When the “fan” flattered Clarke by saying the album’s solos would have been vastly superior had Clarke played them, he chuckled modestly: “You’re too kind. Too kind.”
• CLINT LOWERY SAYS DARK NEW DAY’S FUTURE “DOESN’T LOOK GOOD.” Also: water is wet.
• MEMBERS OF SHADOWS FALL AND FATES WARNING JOIN FORCES IN 80′S METAL COVER BAND NAMED AFTER THE “BAD” DOJO IN THE KARATE KID: Still less fucktarded than being named after the dude from The Neverending Story.

-AR

Recently re-united with his brothers, Sevendust co-founder / guitarist / background singer / musical genius Clint Lowery just released a record of his own, Chills, under the moniker Hello Demons..Meet Skeletons. The mostly acoustic record — on which Clint plays all the instruments and sings all the vocals — is a deep, dark, haunting album that reflects an equally dark time in his life. Written in spurts over the past year or so, the music on Chills stands on its own as a creative work in his own distinct style but is far different from anything Sevendust have ever done.

Lowery’s patience has been tested in recent years — after writing an entire new Dark New Day album that will seemingly never see the light of day, Lowery left the band to re-join Sevendust on the eve of a new album release he had no part in writing. Anxious to get some music of his own to the masses, Lowery elected to record a solo album on his own between Sevendust tours — with production, engineering and mixing help from his brother Corey [also of Dark New Day, Stereomud and Stuck Mojo fame] — and to self-release it on the Internet. After an online ordering snafu that was entirely my fault, I ended up on the other end of an email string with Mr. Lowery himself and he agreed to answer a few questions via email, making him the only person ever in the history of MetalSucks to be interviewed twice — about two separate bands, no less. Read the 7D interview from this past April here, and the new solo EP interview after the jump.

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While we were busy paying homage to the world’s biggest metal band yesterday, turns out some other kind of important stuff actually happened too. Who’d've thunk it?

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I’ve always been a sucker for the minor hit song “Pain” by Stereomud, an early ’00s nu-metal supergroup of sorts that featured members of Life of Agony and Stuck Mojo. At a benefit show in Atlanta this past weekend, bassist Corey Lowery (now of Dark New Day) reunited with his former Stereomud bandmates who are now in the band Love Said No to play that song. Erik Rogers sounds pretty decent, no? Stereomud may never have amounted to too much but I still think this is a kick-ass song, haters be damned. Bring it on.

-VN

Every time we think Dark New Day is dead, caught between quitting guitarists and a label that doesn’t give a shit, they pop up with new songs or newslike a proverbial defibrillator. In a blog posted earlier today by drummer Will Hunt, the band revealed they’ve added a new guitarist (BC Kochmit, ex-Switched, Rikets) to replace Clint Lowery; interestingly, second guitarist Troy McLawhorn’s name is absent from the roster of members on the band’s MySpace page, perhaps because he’s busy with Evanescence.

Dark New Day has also posted two new tracks on their MySpace page. The band also revealed they have approximately three albums worth of material recorded, and that they plan on releasing a series of online-only albums featuring those cuts that won’t make it onto their eventual second album starting 6-8 weeks from now. Knock on wood. Hunt also promises the final record will come out soon.

The two new songs they’ve posted, “Fiend” and “I Don’t Need You,” are good songs consistent with the Dark New Day sound, no doubt benefiting from Lowery’s penmanship. How ironic is it that DND benefits from his writing while he’s back in Sevendust touring a mediocre album he didn’t even help write?

If anyone has mp3 rips of these new Dark New Day tracks please send to news [at] metalsucks.net.

-VN

“MetalSucks.net! I look at you guys all the time!” These are the first words out of Clint Lowery’s mouth when he greets MetalSucks on his tour bus. Our intrepid reporters quickly burst into semi-nervous laughter before Lowery admits that a statement he released on Dark New Day’s MySpace page was a direct response to an editorial our own Vince Neilstein had written about that band just days prior (he’ll also make reference to at least one other piece Vince has written during the course of our interview).

“I hope no one was pissed,” the surprisingly tall Lowery says apologetically in his thick Georgia drawl before he takes a seat on the nearby couch. It’s kind of a surprising to hear Lowery ask us if we’re cool with something he said, since we’re pretty much accustomed to being the proverbial Assholes. But it illustrates what a genuinely nice dude Lowery is, and how legitimately happy he seems to be back in Sevendust after a three album absence.

The fans are happy, too. Later that night, at the band’s gig at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey, they create huge pits as violent as anything you’d ever see at a Hatebreed show, seemingly in Clint’s honor. This loyal and rabid fanbase is the reason Sevendust has survived while so many of their peers have fallen by the wayside. And with Lowery back in the band, it seems that they’re now poised to be more powerful than ever before.

After the jump, read Clint’s thoughts on leaving Dark New Day, returning to Sevendust, and what lies ahead for him and his bandmates.

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Seeing as Clint Lowery just rejoined Sevendust, really, who cares? Can we please just skip this album and go to the next one? Mmmkay, thanks guys.

[Read Vince's long review here]

-VN

(two out of five horns)

[Sevendust announced yesterday that founding member and key songwriter Clint Lowery has rejoined the band after a four-year absence. The following is my best attempt at writing a review of their new album without having heard that news, which, in certain ways, is really difficult to do given Lowery's past influence on the band. -Ed.]

Almost exactly a year ago in a review of the then-new Sevendust album Alpha, I wrote the following line:

“Songs like ‘Deathstar’ feel like a cop-out to me; this is a mediocre song, and I feel like guitarist John Connolly could easily shit riffs like this for days and days.”

Unfortunately the band hasn’t done much to disprove me with their latest offering Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow, out next Tuesday, April 1st on 7 Bros. / Asylum Records. For their third album without founding member and key songwriter Clint Lowery, essentially Sevendust have gone and written the same album for the third time in a row. Though there are a few nuggets on this album, Sevendust have failed to push themselves forward as a band and have, once again, failed to live up the potential that I have hoped — that I know — they have somewhere inside themselves.

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Head over to Sevendust’s MySpace page and you’ll find the message “Clint is back! More details to come…” Needless to say, this signals the return of guitarist Clint Lowery to the fold. Presumably this would mean that Sonny Mayo, who replaced Lowery, is out of the group… except both his photo and that of co-guitarist John Connolly are now missing from the “members” listing on the page. So for all we know, Mayo is still in and Connolly is out, or both of ‘em are out and Lowery is back in… we imagine this will get cleared up soon.

I guess this is good news, and I guess it was inevitable that Lowery would someday return to the fold – but the timing strikes me as odd. Sevendust are about to start promoting their new album, Hope and Sorrow, which comes out next week with and which features no contributions whatsoever from Lowery; meanwhile, the band Lowery left Sevendust to form, Dark New Day, just posted a new a song on their own MySpace page over the weekend (ironically titled “Goodbye”). Dark New Day’s MySpace page makes no mention of Lowery quitting the band, and the fact that his brother is also in the band would make you think he’s not gonna leave anytime soon; so is Lowery gonna be in two bands now? Even though they both sound nearly identical?

ANYWAY, if Lowery IS back, this would seem to make the band’s mysterious decision to drop off the Rockstar Energy Mayhem whatever the fuck its called tour even stupider; why reunite, get all that hype, and then waste it on a tour with fucking Saliva?

Hopefully someone will be wise enough to put out an official press release soon and clear up all the confusion. Color us intrigued…

-AR

Might we see a new Dark New Day release this year? Maybe so. After label problems and scheduling snafus due band members’ other touring commitments, it appears that the Clint Lowery-led (ex-Sevendust) machine might finally be ready to offer a follow-up to 2005′s Twelve Year Silence. In addition to posting a full, new track called “Goodbye” on their MySpace page this weekend, the band (in the form of drummer Will Hunt) had this to say:

“So, rumor, speculation, anticipation, etc., seems to be on a lot of peoples minds. I will not say anything accept this……………………Happy Easter! O.K., not really, I mean Happy Easter, no doubt, but let me just say this- there will be an announcemnt, I mean announcements, over the next couple of weeks that I really believe will make any Dark new Day fiends very happy- this I promise… Because after the rumors, speculation, labels, lawyers, he said, she said, blah, blah, fucking BLAH, its about the music, and you, the loyal DnD tribe that have never lost sight of that!”

What can we say? We sure hope the new record does see release this year. The new song is both heavy and artfully melodic, as could be expected from anything Clint Lowery puts his name on. While Sevendust may have written three albums in the time it took DnD to write one, the former seems content to write the same album three times in a row (Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow out next Tuesday; trust us, we’ve heard it) but every bit of new Dark New Day material we’ve heard reassures us that Clint was the most progressive thinker in his old band.

-VN

Drummer Will Hunt of Dark New Day has issued a rather hilarious update, a kid-in-a-candy-store style recap of his various exploits in 2007. Last year his talents were called upon for tours with Evanescence, Vince Neil, and Bloodsimple, all in between writing and recording the next Dark New Day record. He even got a last-minute fill-in gig for Motley Crue:

“We played our set at Donington the next day, went back to our hotel in London where the next day we (the EV band) were going to fly to Amsterdam for four days of rest and more matters to smoke on! Amy was off to somewhere in Europe to film the video for ‘Good Enough’. The morning we were to leave for Amsterdam, I get a call from a frantic Tommy Lee. Seems he rocked the Donington show a little too hard and his shoulder was fucked up beyond him being able to play and where was I and could I fill in for the London and Manchester shows. I was in London about to head to the airport, had four days off, and again, BAM!!!!! I’m on stage with Motley-fucking-Crue with bombs and fire going off all around me, Nikki on the drum riser rockin’ with me, Mick just absolutely shredding (he is by far the LOUDEST guitar player on earth — God bless Mick Mars!!!!), and Vince screaming his head off!!!!!! HOLY SHIT is all I can say. I couldn’t have dreamt it in my wildest dreams!!

Hunt then offered a Dark New Day update, saying the band had whittled 83 demos down to 13 songs to record (plus 3 more written in the studio). He also revealed what I’d long speculated (and Clint Lowery chose not to address), that part of the lenthy delay between DND albums was due to a label shakeup; they lost their A&R guy, a detrimental blow to any band. Especially when that band’s first record didn’t do so well. Can you say “slipping through the cracks”? In any case I’m glad DND have been given the opportunity to record another disc — hopefully it’ll come out soon.

-VN

Apparently Dark new Day (and ex-Sevendust) guitarist Clint Lowery (or someone close to the Dark New Day camp) reads MetalSucks — MetalSucks commenter Julie has informed us that Clint posted a public response on the band’s official website to our Nov. 19 article which asked “Is Dark New Day getting the shaft from their record label?“:

From: CLINT LOWERY ~ DARK nEW DAY
Regarding: Is DARK nEW DAY getting the shaft from their label?
posted at: www.darknewday.com
Date: November 24, 2007

It’s coming.

Nothing’s been released from the label yet because it’s still getting mixed and mastered.
They’re not gonna release or announce anything until they’ve heard the record completed.

I understand how people can speculate and assume the worst but rest assure this record’s not being overlooked or taken lightly by the label ((WARNER BROS.)) or the members of this ((DARK nEW DAY)) band.

This time of the year is called THE FOURTH QUARTER, and it wouldn’t be a good idea to release anything until next year because the industry kind of shuts down through the holidays.

Updates and artwork, etc., will be coming soon.

Thanks,

DARK nEW DAY

Well damn. I think your decision to wait out the 4th quarter is a wise one. We’re just worried, brother… we’re Dark New Day supporters through and though (click here for proof) and sincerely hope that the label is not, in fact, giving you the cold shoulder. I do wonder about the part of our post you didn’t address, though; that of certain key label personnel originally associated with the band possibly being dismissed. Lord knows in these major label lay-off happy times, all bands need someone fighting for them on the inside. Can’t wait to hear the new stuff, Clint.

-VN

It’s beginning to look like we may soon a new Dark New Day album pretty soon; according to a post on the band’s MySpace written by guitarist Clint Lowery (ex-Sevendust):

Hey everyone,

Quick update. The new records getting mixed right now and its sounding great. Dave Bendeth who produced it is also mixing it. I think its gonna be well worth the wait. Thanks to all that have stuck by us and hope to see you all on tour next year. The new DnD will be out early next year and as soon as we have a hard date on it you’ll be the first to know.

God bless

clint

But if the band is already in the mixing stage, why haven’t we heard anything about it other than updates directly from the band members? Generally by this phase of making a record we’d have been inundated with various press releases of the “producer announced,” “track listing revealed” and “cover artwork revealed” variety, not to mention video updates from the studio and interviews with band members about the new material. Looks to me like Dark New Day, whose first album didn’t sell all that well, is getting the shaft from their record label, Warner Bros. Could it be that key label personnel involved with DND have since been dismissed, or is DND just not a high priority over there? In defense of the label, it seems like a new record hasn’t exactly been a priority to the band either, what with the members taking gigs as touring musicians for the likes of Korn, Evanescence, and Vince Neil.

-VN

Dark New Day and Ex-Sevendust member Clint Lowery, who has been collecting cash as serving time as the touring guitarist for Korn all summer and fall, has left the band mid-tour. Sound familiar? Lowery departed Sevendust mid-tour in late 2004 forcing the band to scramble to find a replacement. This time, though, we can’t help but applaud — not only does this add to the continually comical saga of guitarists leaving Korn (will they please die already?), but it means Lowery can get back to what’s important, finishing the new Dark New Day album. Presumably Lowery has been amply compensated for his duties this year and can lay low for a whle while focusing on new music.

According to Lowery’s MySpace, he departed due to a family emergency. “Everything’s fine — just had to get home. Hated to leave. Love all the Korn guys and had a blast with them.”

Whatever, dude. Now let’s all go listen to some Dark New Day and rejoice.

-VN