Days of the New (II)
Grade: A-
By Matt Levine
In mid-1997, Outpost Records released the debut album from the Louisville, KY-based band Days of the New. Consequently, the first single from the album "Touch, Peel, and Stand," became the longest running number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The first self-titled album, while offering nothing original into the musical arena showed a great deal of promise for the band. The meister behind the Days of the New project, Travis Meeks, effectively expounded his soul into his songs, which were driven by smoothly flowing melodies. The fact that Days of the New sounded like a dead ringer of an all-acoustic version of Alice In Chains set the band back as far as impressing most music critics. For Days of the New's second album, Travis Meeks dropped the band's lead guitarist and bassist, but kept the band's drummer. This album also makes good use of the singing talents of Nicole Scherzinger. Nicole's strong voice harmonizes well with Travis Meeks' rough-edged growl. The tracks on this album also offer more variations and twists, while still sounding euphonious. Many of the songs on the last album, while they appealed to the ear, capitalized on the same kinds of sounds. This second Days of the New album contains flaws, but shows a great deal of improvement from the last album. Some of the lyrics hang awkwardly in the songs, and those lyrics are often repeated ad nauseum, but this Days of the New album ranks as one of the best mainstream rock records of the year. The album provides catharsis without making you overly angry.
