Daylight dies.

WHILE MOST DARK MELODIC METAL comes from Europe these days, North Carolina-based Daylight Dies proves Americans can brood in their depression just as well. Extremely layered, their music envelopes the listener in a dense wall of sound. Barre Gambling's guitar work is varied and heavy, with plenty of riffs that give their music a lasting quality. The drumming, played by Jesse Haff, is tight and powerful. Egan O'Rourke's bass work is melodic and adds solid bottom end. Nathan Ellis recently took on vocal duties after Guthrie Iddings' departure, adding greater vocal depth and variety. Seeing the band live only intensifies the experience; an energetic discharge only understood through seeing it yourself. The band's debut full length, "No Reply," is currently available from Relapse Records. Check out daylightdies.com.

You just got back from Europe. How was it?

Amazing. We were on tour with Catatania. Some dates had a really good turn out. London and Dublin and Belgium and Holland were really good; the reaction to us is really good.

How long have you guys been a band?

We've been active since late 1999, but Daylight Dies as an entity has sort of existed since 1996. But that doesn't really count, because we really didn't record anything 'til late '99.

How long before you got the Relapse deal?

We signed to Relapse, I guess, in 2001. That came about after we also released our demo CD on Tribunal Records in 2000.

What's your opinion of tour life?

Life for the Lacuna Coil tour is pretty different from the tour life with Catatonia. In New York, we were on the tour bus and we were driven to all the gigs and had the luxury of playing the show and having help with roadies and stuff like that. On this one we're driving ourselves everywhere we go, and we sort of have to be responsible for everything we do. I like it, but at a certain point you get really worn-down and want to go home.

All right, you may have answered my next question--but is it hard to stay psyched when yon have a show everyday after a long drive?

No, not really, because it you come to a show and there's a good turn out and people are really enthusiastic and obviously into what you're doing, then all of sudden if you had any hesitations about the show or about the tour in general they go away, and you get really excited and your adrenaline is going and you have fun. But if you have a show that's sort of disappointing, then ...

You're over it?

Yeah.

Do you think it's hard to come up in the music industry being from a small town like Chapel Hill, or do you think it matters where you're from at all?

We're really from Raleigh, now that we all live there, but that's still a pretty small town It doesn't really make a difference. You don't get noticed as much playing live, obviously, because you don't have the numbers that you'd have if you were from New York City or even Philadelphia or Chicago. It doesn't matter too much if you have a recording.

Have you had time to start working on a new album yet? Or are you still pushing the old one?

We really want to begin working on a new album and we do have a lot of ideas for it. They're all sort of scratch ideas on Barry's computer, but the process we go through is to start demoing songs in our rehearsal space, and then kind of cut them down--we look back and realize which parts definitely don't make the cut. You go through that process over and over again, and it takes a long time. We haven't had the time for that since we've been pretty active with touring Hopefully when we get back we can start pulling out some of those ideas.--Jon Mehring

RICKTER SCALE OF DOOM

MORBID ANGEL Heretic (Earache)--Man-oh-man, Morbid Angel never cease to amaze. Crunching, howling-ass blasting death the way we like it--you can just forget some of the more recent stuff they've done. I'm real on this, hack to the old school, Don't miss these guys on tour.

IRON KIND/VOODOO SHOCK split 7" Game Two (PsycheDOOMelic)--Colorado's own cult doomsters lead by Conan (G2 label owner) bust out their best and most unrelenting doom tune yet. Voodoo Shock consists of former Naevus members doing a true redux from that era. Both bands get an eight-point-nine reading on the Doomscale!

UFOMAMMUT Snailking (TMC)--This is their second full-length release of blistering spaced-out psychesludge drenched with synth and droned-out vocals. Stonerrock.com says that these guys holed up in the backwoods of Italy for four weeks to record this creative, slithering, doomy fuzz fest.

FALL OF THE BASTARDS Where Dead Hang from Trees (Parasitic/End Theory) Portland's masters of metal manage to yet again meld black, trash and doom with grinding twists of mass destruction. FOTB fucking kills!

REVEREND BIZARRE Harbinger of Metal--"True Doom," says the sticker on the package. And yes, crushing traditional doom it is, right in the vein of a meatier St Vitus. This is their sophomore record that will most assuredly be proudly inducted into the Hall of Doom.