Honey Daze is a Post-Hardcore / Nu-Gaze band from Yonkers, NY. Honey Daze’s name aptly conjures its swirling undercurrent of shoegaze and noise. But what’s missing in that evocation is the Yonkers, New York-based band’s penchant for hardcore, post-hardcore, grunge, and alternative metal.
I am getting so educated, writing for this blog! I had no idea Nu-Gaze existed, let alone its connection to the shoegaze genre. But even before reading online about it, I would argue that it is the heavier, more metal cousin of shoegaze.
Listening to Honey Daze’s new album ‘Another Habit To Break’, and keep in mind, I have metal roots and I am a child of the 90s, I can hear the following references (whether they exist or not, and perhaps they are filtered through bands that came after the 2000s is just a matter of age and perspective I guess): Nirvana, both Steven Wilsons’s projects Porcupine Tree (especially when it comes to the drum sound and drum patterns) and Blackfield (semi-gloomy almost goth pop moments with a dose of prog metal), Deftness for sure (in terms of the heaviness, wall of sound guitars and also the vocals) and I guess there is also a lot of elements from hardcore but also kinda extreme metal bands like Gojira in every brutal vocal moment.
The sound and the production, as well as the playing skills, are excellent. To be honest, I didn’t really expect anything less, because most metal or hardcore-sounding bands from the 2000s to 2010s have a very high bar when it comes to sound quality and musicianship.
What I find that these bands lack sometimes is a strong identity, and out-of-the-box songwriting, avoiding the formula of more syncopated parts with brutal vocals and then exploding into a melodically sung chorus with more open and strummed guitar riffs.
This band definitely “passes that test” for me.
“(critters)” and “(is it ever enough)”, the intro and interlude, respectively, are pure shoegaze, textured and washed away in reverbs and soundscapes. One can often notice this kind of sound element in other songs, such as in ‘Glass (waiting for nothing)’.
Other than that, it is very well put together, recorded, performed and mixed music that has that prog element where the syncopated drum parts and meaty bass lines are dancing in great unison with the (probably) low-tuned guitar layers, which are greatly orchestrated with everything from heavy riffs, complete distortion strum parts and beautiful leads.
Apart from a few singles, it appears to be their first full-length album. It sounds excellent, it is not too long or too repetitive, and they can only go on to fly really high from here!
Written by Spiros Maus
