Given the total disappointment that was their debut full-length effort What Demons Do To Saints from 2007, I wasn’t expecting a lot from Iowa-based melodic death metal/metalcore act Beneath The Sky’s sophomore effort. And that’s a good thing, because as much as an improvement The Day The Music Died is on their debut, there’s not a lot on this album that really surprises or excites me.

Don’t get me wrong, Beneath The Sky isn’t the worst example of what the current metal scene has to offer (that’s generally reserved for some other acts that Victory Records have signed up in recent years), but they’re certainly not the most original or innovative I’ve heard.

On the positive side of things, the band (who now comprise of vocalist Joey Nelson, new guitarist/vocalist Kevin Stafford, guitarist Jeff Nelson, bassist Nick Scarberry and new drummer Bryan Cash) have obviously been given a bigger budget to work with, because the production values on The Day The Music Died positively outshine those on their previous effort. Song wise, the opener “Nature Of The Beast,” “Respect For The Dead,” the melodic “I’ll Call This My Own” (where Nelson uses his clean vocals for the bulk of the song) and the storming closer “The Pursuit Of ???” certainly represent the stronger moments on the album.

The negative aspects of The Day The Music Died however are essentially the rest of the album. From the rehashing of old ideas (both “Misery With A Delicate Voice” and “With A Gun Smoke Kiss” originally appeared on the band’s debut EP More Than You Can Handle... from 2006), generic songwriting structures, painfully cringeworthy emo-rock efforts (“Another Day”) and overly long/boring compositions (the epic 10-minute “The Belle Of The Ball”) drag the album down to the pits of hell.

I’ll give the band credit for daring to try some new ideas, even if most of them failed. But at the end of the day I can’t help but criticise Beneath The Sky, if only for their lack of song writing capabilities. The Day The Music Died may be brutal, and at times melodic, but it sure is forgettable too.

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