Saves the Day
Daybreak
Release Date: Sep 13, 2011
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/Rock, Emo-Pop, Punk-Pop
Record label: Razor & Tie
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Album Review: Daybreak by Saves the Day
Acceptable, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
Saves the Day complete their self-discovery-themed trilogy -- preceded by 2006’s provocative Sound the Alarm and the quieter Under the Boards a year later -- with Daybreak. Whether by design or due to the intervening years and lineup changes, Daybreak sets itself apart from the rest of the trilogy with its sense of optimism and simultaneously forward- and backward-looking perspective. The album starts on an epic note, with a ten-minute, five-part opening track in the contemporary rock opera vein of Green Day’s American Idiot, revisiting various points in Saves the Day's career ("Somehow You Love Me" offers guitar work that would fit alongside In Reverie, and "F***** Up Past the Point of Fixing" serves up Sound the Alarm-era angst) as well as showing the band stepping outside of their box (the chiming guitar and subtle electronics of "8 AM" are reminiscent of the Dismemberment Plan’s Emergency & I).
Based on rating 7/10
Our verdict on the final chapter of STD's three-album concept release... It can’t be easy being Saves The Day - having written songs that defined the tastes of a lot of 90s / 00s emo fans, they’ll never really escape comparisons to ‘Can’t Slow Down’ and ‘Through Being Cool.’ And that’s not particularly fair, given that songs like ‘1984’, ‘E’ and the album’s extended title track take the catchier parts of their newer material (vocalist Chris Conley’s infamous Beatles influences seem to mesh much better with their punk rock sound here), and then deliver it so tightly and concisely that it would be a total waste to rehash their glory days. .
Based on rating 5/10
After several lineup changes and pushed back released dates, Saves the Day have finally released their seventh studio album, Daybreak. According to lead singer and principal songwriter Chris Conley, the disc is the third part of a trilogy along with 2006’s Sound The Alarm and ‘07’s Under the Boards. The first two legs were about discontent, reflection and remorse, respectively.
Based on rating D
Daybreak has been a long time coming for Saves the Day. The final leg of a trilogy started in 2006, Daybreak clocks in four years after part two, 2007’s Under the Boards. Along the way, there have been several lineup changes, rendering lead singer/guitarist Chris Conley not only the last remaining original band member, but indeed the only one who has recorded on a previous Saves the Day album.
Opinion: Excellent
This review originally ran in AP 279. Four years in the making, Saves The Day’s seventh full-length has finally arrived. With any album delayed this long, it’s hard not to feel slightly let down, as listeners will have built up the release in their own minds. As any longtime STD fan will tell you, preconceptions are a real bitch.
'Daybreak'
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