UMUR
"Day of Mourning" is the 4th full-length studio album by Canadian deathcore act Despised Icon. The album was released through Century Media Records in September 2009. A couple of lineup changes have taken place since the release of "The Ills of Modern Man (2007)" as guitarist Al Glassman (who only played on "The Ills of Modern Man (2007)") has been replaced by Ben Landreville and bassist Sebastien Piché has been replaced by Max Lavelle. Former guitarist Yannick St-Amand is once again credited for the production.
...and once again he has created a massive, clear, and powerful sounding production, which suits the clinically excecuted music well. In terms of musical style "Day of Mourning" pretty much continue down the same deathcore path as heard on "The Ills of Modern Man (2007)". There is one thing that´s different on "Day of Mourning" though and that´s the absence of piggy squeals. The two lead vocalists now only use death metal type growling and aggressive hardcore shouting as vocal styles. The instrumental part of the music is intense, technical and groove laden. While the album features both fast and mid-paced parts, there are also extensive use of ultra heavy breakdowns.
That recipe works very well for the most part, even though the music isn´t the most original sounding nor memorable. The tracks are catchy enough while they play though and are bound to blow you to pieces. "Day of Mourning" is all in all a quality release by Despised Icon and while I still feel (like I´ve felt about every previous release) that the band could work on incorporating more memorable or hook laden sections to their tracks to make a full album´s worth of their music a varied listen, "Day of Mourning" is probably their most listenable release up until now. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.