End These Days : Dead End

I end up missing a lot of music trying to keep up with new artists. While I keep track of new music from bands I like, I forget to write about them. End These Days is one of my favorite melodic hardcore bands and I listened to Dead End a lot but never wrote about the single.

Released in June 2020, Dead End is the latest official release from the band. It feels like while End These Days is actively performing, official releases come a bit more infrequently. The band only has one official full length, Ambivalence, which dropped in 2017. In some ways, End These Days’ releases feel more like a check-in to record their music while they focus on live performances.

The three-song single highlights everything that makes End These Days so much fun to hear. Crushing instrumentals between the guitar, bass, and drums are all held together by the mixed vocals. The band is always forcing continuous walls of sound in your face and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Dead End” is signature End These Days. There is a tsunami of sonics hitting your ears and the vocals are the peak of the mountain. The song is eight seconds short of four minutes, but moves quickly through the verses and also lets the track breathe.

“Karma” only piggybacks on “Dead End.” It looks you directly in the eye and says “get ready.” End These Days use a slower tempo in their melodic hardcore, but the actual instrumentation fills every single beat and verse with a riff or drum fill.

Adding the skills of Yang Jin Hyun on “Vein” adds another level to the track. The impressive guitarist gives the track a different edge and a moment of calm to the End of Days sound.

Dead End isn’t a cohesive single with each track blending into another, it’s three distinct songs that highlight the explosive and addictive sound of the band.

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