Drowning in Negativity

After releasing two notoriously atrocious demo's Happy Days finally releases something that actually feels like a depressive black metal release rather than an appalling imitation of the genre, this release shows massive improvements in all aspects of their music and at the time this was released was easily their best work.

This demo is fairly interesting in that it is broken down into two halves drastically differing in style. The first side shows a notable depressive rock influence reminiscent of Lifelover. Although Happy Days lack the song writing and technical ability of Lifelover it's still a decent attempt at the style, just not the best. The second side shows a drastically different direction than what the first half was going for, this is a much more classic take on depressive black metal. There is a lot of minimalism present here and although I don't have a problem with minimalism when done correctly (note the usage of correctly), it does become taxing to listen to when the songs are over 12 minutes long and there are only 2 or 3 riff changes per song. I mean I don't except the level of technicality to be on present with Brain Drill or Viraemia but I don't expect it to be on par with a band like Sunn O))), Drone doom works fine for what it is trying to do, play sustained notes over a long period of time, depressive black metal is all about the atmosphere and when you have about 2-3 riffs over 12 minutes the whole vision becomes lost and as a result of this the atmosphere doesn't become that of a trance inducing, hypnotic delivery. Although the atmosphere they try to create does actually come through in places, especially the last track the minimalism does make it a taxing listen and I frequently find my attention wavering over the duration of the release. If the songs were halved in length this would probably warrant a higher score from me but as it stands it doesn't.

I'm not full of negative things to say however, like I said earlier they have made MASSIVE improvements over all aspects of their musicianship though some areas still need a bit of work, mainly the technicality and the vocals. The mid range rasp is tolerable, even good but it's when main man Morbid lets out one of those high pitched whining wooo's that the vision of the music is lost and the delivery comes off as rather comedic. Although Morbid probably thinks he's sounding tortured and suicidal the whole effect comes off as that of a kid throwing a tantrum, not the kind of image depressive black metal is supposed to emulate. If Happy Days want to be taken more seriously then I would seriously recommend eliminating that vocal delivery from their sound, the quality would no doubt be improved if they followed through with it. The musicianship has also been improved, the riffs have become more technical (barely) and there are less mistakes to be found, as such the sound is much more professional and developed. The various acoustic interludes work rather well within the music and manages to display quite a bit of emotion. Happy Days must clearly be found of them because it becomes a major defining aspect of their sound on their latter releases. The production is also much more clear, though it still is plenty muddy, the instruments come through much better than on the former releases giving the music much more room to breathe. The vocals have been pushed further back into the mix and by the sounds of it they have used a better mic as most of the crackling some of the louder screams caused have been negated. The drums however still have this weird wobble effect to them, although it is hardly noticeable for the most part it does become much more in your face in the calmer interludes and I find it highly irritating, however this is probably just a minor gripe on my part and for the majority of the time it is thankfully buried within the mix so it doesn't detract from the music too much.

This release has a much more polished and defined sounds than their previous releases and shows a definite level of maturity that was previously absent. Although there are still a few minor complaints, mainly the musicianship and the vocals this is a major improvement from their previous material. This is certainly a step in the right direction for Happy Days and I believe that if they continued to improve all aspects of their sound they could become a much more formidable force in the future and one of the more notable acts in the genre. This is certainly an enjoyable release and one that will no doubt garner somewhat frequent listens from me. Although it's not quite as good as their latter releases especially Cause of Death: Life this release shows Happy Days fully developing and defining their sound and shows that they're a band to be taken seriously.

It seems that Happy Days is now hitting its stride. The third demo by Florida's best (and possibly only) suicidal black metal band is a tremendous leap from the previous, 'Alone And Cold', and shows the band finally growing into its own skin. The music here now has a much more defined sense of its own style, as well as having corrected many of the technical errors that made the previous releases something of a taxing listen; but most of all, the music is clearly more mature and developed on this release, and all for the better.

The most obvious change upon the first few seconds of hearing this release is the dramatically improved production. The vocals have been dropped yet further into the background, and it sounds like a better microphone has been used, eliminating much of the crackling that the louder howls would often cause. Guitars and drums are now nicely balanced, and an extra dose of reverb has been added to the vocals as well as an echo effect to the drums, giving the music much more space and room to breathe. The instrumental performances have also been tightened up considerably, with very few errors being present compared to the earlier works; the drumming actually seems to be perfect throughout.

The material on this demo was originally supposed to appear on two separate splits; when those were scrapped, they were combined for a new demo. Thus, each half is quite different from the other:

Side one treads in territory very reminiscent of Lifelover. A perceptible depressive rock influence is highly audible, and the tracks overall have a more romantically depressed edge to them; more My Dying Bride than Winter, as it were. It's pretty good: enjoyable to listen to, if a bit derivative, and it does get its atmosphere across very effectively. The two first tracks are, though, probably the least complex on the demo: emotionally and intellectually as well as musically. This doesn't mean that they're poor; far from it. Merely that they aren't appreciated on as deep a level as side two.

And this side is where things truly get excellent, particularly on finishing track 'En Annen Dag..... En Annen Død....'. The riffs and music in general here are much darker and more funereal, both in pace and in tone. The music here loses much of the rock influence and instead resembles a slower version of an artist such as Sterbend. The main riff to 'En Annen Dag..... En Annen Død....' is easily one of the finest I've heard in suicidal black metal, and cuts to the core of what the genre SHOULD be: not a celebration of depression, not a romanticization of suicide, and most certainly not a community of the melancholy: pure, unrelenting loneliness, with absolutely no 'coolness' found in the emotions that it represents. Only the true misery that comes with depression, just as it really is: devoid of any sort of severe emotion, but rather representative of the absolute absence of it; the desire to crawl in bed and sleep for a very, very long time.

The strength of that track alone could carry the demo, but the three others are certainly worthy contenders as well. So, now with most of the general technical issues worked out, there's merely improvement of songwriting to gear up on. At forty minutes, this is the longest demo that the band has released, and truth be told, it does begin to wear thin by the end, despite the quality of the material present. The music here is pretty minimalist even by suicidal black standards: there are generally only two or three riffs per (lengthy) song, bound together by slight variations in playing on drums or guitar. And while these variations do add to the relative liveliness of each composition, they can't quite mask the fact that there are, well, only two or three riffs per song, except one version of it is power chords where another is single-note tremolo, or how the drums drop out here or add double bass here, etc. The riffs are certainly more complex than on any of the previous releases, and this is a very big improvement, but simply adding more of them would create a new layer of depth to the music overall.

Of course, such a complaint is really a matter of degree than anything. 'Drowning In Negativity' is easily the best Happy Days release yet, and is hopefully representative of the band's style in time to come. If you were turned off by the poor production before, Happy Days are now a band to investigate again: you'd be surprised how much you like music when you can actually hear it.