Time & Pressure by Devour The Day, Review
(The cover I have is white, but for some reason the only ones I can find are black)
(view my personal tumblr here)
Album Title: Time & Pressure
Release Date: May 7, 2013 (re-released January 14, 2014)
“Here I am again, honest and afraid. Doubting who I am, the reason I was made”…whoops sorry. Wrong album. That lyric is from Devour The Day’s song “The Bottom” which has been a big active rock hit since it’s 2016 release. It appears on DTD’s second album, S.O.A.R. I am a huge fan of that song, and thought the album was decent. So I thought I’d go back in time and review their first album, Time & Pressure.
The album opens with the song Respect, which instantly gave me a (modern/Matt Walst style) Three Days Grace & 9Electric sound. The vocals are kinda muffled because of special affects, or Blake Allison had his hand near the receiver of the microphone. Proceeding next is their first single off the album, Good Man. The song is pretty relatable to the typical depressant (me for example). It pleads to the lord, if he’s listening, to take the darkness away and make everything better. I like to hope everything will be better, but generally I just listen to songs like this instead of being proactive. The re-release also includes an acoustic version of the song.
The album slows down for a hot second, not like acoustic but a little less upbeat, on the fifth track, Move On. I’m going to take a guess by the lyrics, “I won’t let myself forget all the fucked up things you did”, someone came back into Allison’s life and it was tempting to get back with them. But in the end he needed to remember the relationship wasn’t good and needed to move on. Do they always come back? Seems to be a common theme in songs. The album takes a complete turn though on the song, Oath; asking to not give up on him and he is going to make his way back. Woah, switching it up much, or totally different relationship?
Towards the end of the album there are some pretty stellar tracks. The Drifter is the first acoustic appearance on the album. Definitely cell phone and lighter raise worthy, it talks about something written about probably a thousand times. Not to mention there are probably a thousand other songs called by The Drifter. But it’s okay, I like songs about people who get hurt and continue on. It’s kinda my thing. The album ends with the song Check Your Head, which is exclusive to the re-release. It was the first song where I instantly was like, “I have to add this to my go to song playlist”. It opens with a cool guitar riff that reminds me of Slash, and proceeds into a good self reflection. Reflecting on whether you are going to give into the suckiness of life, or stand up and be strong. I have kinda been doing the former, and really do need to check my head. (Hence why I liked the song so much).
Overall I’d give this album a 3 out of 5. I wouldn’t say this band is particularly unique of ground breaking, but they have some pretty relatable songs and a cool sound. Unfortunately they’re kinda in the same band wagon as Red Sun Rising, and put out some pretty popular active rock singles but don’t get the tour support in result. Buy albums people! I want to rock out to Good Man and Check Your Head at a DTD headlining show!
