It must be a little tough to be Saves The Day. They’ll probably be forever judged on a few select singles and albums, and no matter where they went with new afford ‘Daybreak’, it was going to run a particular risk of falling a little flat.
They’ve also done themselves no favours by taking ages to getting around to making it, and then kicking the album off with an eleven minute song that really, really could have been a little shorter – and though it’s by no means terrible, it’s indicative of the album as a whole feeling like it tries a little hard.
There’s little doubt that the songwriting credentials are still there with the band, but where ‘Daybreak’ should have been the glorious return, there’s a nagging thought that it’s falling short of what it could of been, and there just isn’t the same raw energy as the band carried a few years back.
Still, that’s what you get when the bar is set high, and it’s unfair to call the album poor as there’s plenty of great moments, it’s just that ‘Daybreak’ often meanders where it’s being willed to get to the point and ends up a little disappointing because of it.
If you’ve ever, ever liked Saves The Day, there’s no reason not to give the record a go, because there’s plenty of the dirtier moments that make it worth a listen and the darkness of it gives it character, but you may just find yourself switching back to an older record before you know it.