Daze of June has been teasing the release of their new EP, Stages of Erosion, since November of 2023 when they released the first track. Finally, this long waiting period approaches its end as the album is set to release on February 7th of this year. The EP will feature five songs, three of which have already been released to the public and two that will be exclusive to the February 7th release date. Having released albums and singles since 2018, Daze of June has stated that this EP features the most personal and hard-hitting songs they have ever released. It touches on deeper, more emotional topics that the band hopes will connect with their listeners on a new level.
The first track on the EP is “Hospital Bed” which features the American metal band Hollow Front. It was first released on November 1st, 2024, as a single. The song starts with a solid opening riff featuring strong, heavy guitars and a powerful drumbeat. This backing track then leads into the vocals that flip between a classic metal sound and a more layered melodic styling. The quick pacing of this song is almost reminiscent of the punk-metal band Motionless In White; however, it features a heavier tone. About halfway through the song, there is a very interesting beat drop that uses record scratching, something that does not typically appear in heavy metal music, making it a truly unique element. Toward the end of the song, there is a break from the heavy metal with soft, airy vocals that smoothly transition back to the original heavier metal sound. The lyrics of the song are extremely well written and touch on the concept of being bound to a hospital bed by some form of illness. This song excellently demonstrates the feeling of being trapped by a condition—feeling your health deteriorating and fading away while hoping for a cure despite simultaneously fearing the progression of the issue. Overall, this was an incredible track, the mixing was on point and the entire piece was very well composed.
The second song on the release “Secret Door” was originally released May 28, 2024. “Secret Door” was another strong track that was metal but in a slightly lighter tone with almost a heavy rap-like element. This song was extremely reminiscent of the band I Prevail which tends to center around this rap-metal blend and similar topics. The primary concept of the lyrics seems to be somebody feeling trapped in a cycle that they want to escape and searching for the ‘secret door’ as a way out. There was a really interesting guitar moment at about the halfway mark that was a very well-performed riff leading into a heavier metal beat drop. This track was yet again beautifully composed and written. The years of experience this band has show through their ability to harmonize the instrumental and heavier beat to a lighter, less typical heavy metal vocal.
The third track, “Black Bones”, is set to be released as a part of the EP drop on February 7. It uses a unique siren-like sound through the backing track that accompanies the beat and the guitar perfectly. This song is yet again more of a rap-metal feeling however it has more growl and grit than “Secret Door” since it is more of a screamo metal vocal than a light melodic style. “Black Bones” also includes some record scratching as well as more melodic breaks, but they are still heavier and less frequent than in some of the other tracks. The song centers around the topic of overthinking and getting carried away with negative thoughts, unable to forget the past to live in the present. Many of the other songs on this album end fairly abruptly and suddenly, but this track slowly fades out the instrumental and vocals to create a more smooth transition into the start of the next. This was preferred as it made the song feel as though it had a more complete ending instead of being suddenly cut off.
The fourth release featured on the EP will also remain unreleased until the publication of the full EP. “In Time” has a more contrasting introduction to the other songs since it starts with a soft harmonization and transitions into metal while the other songs do the opposite. It was a pleasant surprise and an interesting change from the other tracks. Despite starting lighter, this song was heavier than many of the other songs, featuring deeper screamo vocals. The lyrical topic revolves around perseverance and grasping at good memories to push through hard times. The heavier vocal continued through any of the lighter, typically more melodic sections of the song as opposed to switching to match the instrumentals. Typically, instrumentals contrasting the vocals create a bit of an odd or difficult to understand sound. but in this case it worked very well and played into the song’s overall feeling. The vocals did feel a little bit drowned out by the instrumentals at times, but it is a minor issue that does not affect the listening experience. Part of this drowning out was contributed to by the use of vocal distortion in the background vocals that made some lyrics a bit harder to understand in comparison to others. The use of distortion was prevalent throughout this song and there was an interesting stuttering effect used throughout some of the backing instrumentals. While this song might not be the strongest on the EP, it still makes for a great listening experience and fits very well into this release.
The final song on the EP is “Matriarch”. which was also released in advance, having been published first on November 24, 2023. This song acted as the very first teaser released for this EP which was an excellent choice as it is one of the strongest on the album. This song was a heavier metal again featuring rap elements and a choppy-sounding guitar. It had a unique haunting presence that stood out amongst the others. This is likely due to the slower vocals contrasting the quick-paced ambient metal. This song was more akin to Cradle of Filth who typically release songs that feature a similar gothic sound. Many of their songs manage to create a unique feeling by using ambient eerie sounds mixed throughout their metal as well as similar slow vocals. This same feeling was especially prevalent in Daze of June’s “Matriarch” release, around the halfway point, where there was a slower beat breakdown and more screechy screamo vocals. Cradle of Filth is regarded very highly in the metal community as having an extremely unique and hard-to-replicate sound, so the fact that this same intriguing creepy feeling managed to be so well captured through this song is an amazing feat.
An interesting note about Stages of Erosion is that all of the songs clock in around the 4-minute mark, but they do not feel that long at all. Oftensongs that are this length can feel as though they are dragging on. These songs however are so well executed and written that they still hold the listener’s attention straight to the end. The songs do not feel too long or too short, they perfectly encapsulate the entirety of the concept for each track. The production value and quality of this EP are incredible on both the part of the band and the audio mixing. It was hard to believe that this band only has just under 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify since the quality of the writing, instrumentals, vocals, and mixing truly compete with the big league radio metal bands.
Stages of Erosion will be an amazing release for Daze of June and an excellent listening experience for their fans. The EP can be pre-saved and the three already released songs are available on most streaming platforms now.