Rough Edge: By Night CD Reviews

BY NIGHT

"A New Shape of Desperation" (Lifeforce; 2006)

I was impressed with By Night’s full-length debut, “Burn the Flags.” I appreciated the band’s precision and aggressiveness. By Night’s sophomore full-length release, “A New Shape of Desperation,” is a slightly more technical version of the band – hence, this new effort will do little to rid the band of comparisons to Meshuggah and Fear Factory.

By Night’s music is taut and remains excessively aggressive – the songs border on being overly oppressive, but you’d have to believe that’s the band’s intent. Upon first listen, By Night’s style on “A New Shape of Desperation” still relies too much on the metalcore and hardcore side of things. However, with a greater sense of songwriting in the form of more progressive song-structure elements, improved angular riffing, and a greater impact by the sparse melodies By Night have moved forward, albeit slightly, in a more evolutionary direction that puts a significant creative stamp on their style.

I am particularly impressed by the improvement in the emoting in the vocals – not only can you hear the desperation in tracks like “Dead Eyes See No Future,” you can literally feel it as well.

If you liked “Burn the Flags” you’ll love “A New Shape of Desperation.”

“A New Shape of Desperation” was produced by Christian Silver.

By Night: Adrian Westin on vocals, Andre Gonzales and Henrik Persson on guitars, Marcus Wesslen on bass, and Per Quarnstrom on drums.

For more information visit http://www.bynightonline.com.

"Burn the Flags" (Lifeforce; 2005)

Reviewed by Christopher J. Kelter

Here at Rough Edge's East Coast offices the Lifeforce label has been gaining a steady reputation as an up-and-coming label that has a pretty good track record signing young bands that are breathing new life into heavy metal. One of the label's most recent signings is Sweden-based By Night.

On their debut full-length CD, "Burn The Flags," By Night comes across as a mixture of Hatebreed, death 'n' roll originators Entombed, and new death 'n' roll kings Burst. I also hear bits and pieces of progression a la Opeth with a healthy dose of technical metal in the vein of Fear Factory and/or In-Quest mixed in for good measure. That might sound a little weird at first glance, but it really does make sense after you hear the band plow through a solid mixture of metalcore, death 'n' roll, and hardcore.

The vocals are more of a hardcore shout – and it's a pretty consistent shout all the way through – which is actually the only detrimental thing one can say about "Burn The Flags." I'm sure the vocals have an immediate appeal to most fans of the metalcore genre, but I figure the vocals will improve over time to incorporate more variation and less one-dimensional shouting.

"Burn The Flags" is filled with aggression yet has frequent memorable riffs and hooks. The songwriting is diverse, yet crisp. By Night have established themselves as a band to watch and "Burn The Flags" is certainly one of the best surprises of 2005 (so far).

"Burn The Flags" was produced by By Night and recorded/mixed by Chris Silver.

By Night is Adrian Westin on vocals, Andre Gonzales and Simon Wien on guitars, Henrik Persson on bass, and Per Quarnstrom on drums.

For more information visit http://www.bynightonline.com.

Rating Guide:

A classic. This record will kick your ass.

Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.

So-so. You've heard better.

Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.

Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.

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