ALBUM REVIEW: Elliott BROOD - Days Into Years

by Mark Gillis

Elliott BROOD have affectionately dubbed themselves as playing a style of music called “death country”. While that may sound like a mix between death metal and country, it really isn’t. It’s basically just alt-country music that you can really stomp your feet to. Even though the band labels themselves as death country, I think that the new batch of songs on ‘Days Into Years’ are a lot less “death” and a lot more... well... brooding (did I really just use that word?).

I’ve always had kind of an affinity for the sound of alt-country. When you grow up in Canada you’ll inevitably hear Blue Rodeo somewhere on the radio. Even when I wasn’t that into music, I found it interesting how Blue Rodeo could take a sound that I hated (country) and turn it into something that I enjoyed while still maintaining the feel of the country music that I disliked so much. I think that Elliott BROOD really takes what I thought Blue Rodeo did so well and turns it up to a completely different level.

These songs will always be labelled as country because the influence from country is obvious, I mean they have a banjo player, something that screams country/bluegrass. Even though that's the case, the songs on this album have a dimension of darkness underlying them that makes them different from just about any other country music that you’ll hear. When I say dark, I really do mean dark. I think every song on this album creates a real melancholic feeling for me, none of them ever escape the dark undertones even if some songs are more upbeat than others.

I think by far the most interesting thing on this album for me is the way that these songs all wind, turn and build. That makes it a very adventurous listen. Just they way that most of these songs build up and down creates so much tension while I’m listening to them. I feel like a lot of these tracks are just bursting at the seams waiting to let all of their energy out but the band just tries to hold that energy in just a bit longer then I want them to, and it makes me almost uncomfortable at times during the album.

That mix of tension and darkness has kept me coming back to this album even if it wasn’t an instant love for me in the beginning. I do feel that there are a couple tracks that aren’t as dynamic as others, and therefore don’t create this tension for me. But it’s only a couple of tracks, and the rest more than make up for it.

I also really like how the two vocalists contrast each other throughout the album. They both have kind of rough sounding voices but one is a lot more rough than the other, it just helps to keep things interesting.

I really don’t think I’m off base in saying that this is Elliott BROOD’s best work yet, I know that it’s my favorite from them for sure. If you’re a fan of alt-country then I think you owe it to yourself to check this out. Even if you aren’t a fan of alt-country, but you just like some really dark, tension filled music then you might end up liking this.