Creature In The Black Night by Dayseeker Album Review

One of the most talented and under appreciated metalcore/post-hardcore bands out there Dayseeker just released their 7th album "Creature In The Black Night" on October 24th, 2025.

Consisting of band members Rory Rodriguez on lead vocals, Gino Sgambelluri on lead guitar and backing vocals (plus rhythm guitar starting in 2018), Ramone Valerio on bass and backing vocals, and finally Zac Mayfield with drums and percussion Dayseeker are a band known primarily by their post-hardcore and metalcore sound in their musical style. But they are generally accepted in a few other genres such as emo, alternative rock, screamo, post-emo, hard rock, and synthwave. They have been together since 2012, with a few band member switch ups here and there.

Dayseeker are a band that I quite enjoy, if I know very little about. Their 2022 album Dark Sun is one I very much enjoy and is the only other album of theirs I have listened to top to bottom. Meanwhile their album Replica, which is a collection of acoustic versions of some of their past songs, was one of my favorite albums in all of 2024.

Rory Rodriguez is often celebrated for some of the best vocals of a rock band today, with incredibly skill and silky smoothness that combines with the atmospheric instrumentals on their songs that draw from a lot of different genres, with a big emphasis on feeling and a reliance on synths that aren't often heard from other bands in the same genre.

But I will be listening to this album for the first time in full, having only previously listened to the single released before hand "Pale Moonlight" and nothing else.

Track 1: Pale Moonlight

We start off the album with one of the singles released beforehand, and the only song I had listened to before the album drop.

It starts off with their atmospheric sounds with a beautiful soundscape of vocals, heavily filtered and produced piano, and distorted percussion with bass. Rory comes in with heavy reverb on his vocals that add to the dark, dirty atmosphere before we go into a heavily distorted pre-chorus that finally brings us to the pounding, metal chorus. Loud drums, guitars, and more synths and vocal pads grooving under Rory's vocals that keep the energy fast paced and energetic.

A great build up and follow through into an infectious vibe and great sounding track.

The next verse has the same distorted piano and pads, but with added rock drums full of great fills and a guitar that comes in to add to the building tension. Rory's vocals continue to shine through as we pound into another chorus that sounds the same, keeping the energy and groove moving forward. His brief moments of going into a higher register show his serious range and talent. The control he has over his voice is remarkable. Especially with the breakdown and the heavy metal growls and screams he is able to achieve, with an incredible guitar tone that is smooth and rhytmic while also being distorted and dirty enough for the heavy hardcore/metalcore vibe of the song. A great combination of styles and elements, with the various instruments and effects all coming together expertly into something truly beautiful to listen to. All building to the ending which built and built with metal screams before ending suddenly.

A great song to start us off with with energy and skill that set up the listener for a real sonic treat.

Track 2: Creature In The Black Night

The other single released before the album was announced, the title track comes second on the album.

This song goes much more into the electronic, synth heavy elements. It starts off much relaxed with heavy synthwave like bass chords and bells. The drums are heavily filtered and distorted while the vocals have a hint of production to make them sound more fitting with the synthwave heavy instrumental. Almost on the verge of darkwave or outrun, but not quite going into there. The first chorus has some beautiful vocal deliveries and a beautiful atmosphere while the live instruments slowly begin to come in, starting off with rock drums that are incredibly open and spaceious. Moving along with the synth stabs before we hit another chorus that is only slightly bigger and louder than the first. The high register vocals glide across it so beautifully and smoothly, like angelic tones over something dark and dirty.

We get into a small bridge that adds even more to the darker elements, with heavily distorted talking that fades away into a pulsing, pounding kick with the synths side chained to it. The vocals more filtered and robotic than before. A beautiful build that many other bands in the metalcore genre don't tend to do all too often.

The breakdown comes with loud, pounding guitars and drums. Becoming much more into the metalcore or hardcore genre with the screams, energy, and frantic wildness you expect from Dayseeker. The synths only come in for little fills or effects while the final chorus is much more big and loud and powerful. The vocals are at their best here, showing just how much control that Rory has. A beautiful combination of elements.

Track 3: Crawl Back To My Coffin

This track once again starts off much more synth heavy, with pads and faded, filtered melodies for the beginning until we get a pulsing, beautiful sounding instrumental with beautiful guitars and drums that sound happy and bright despite the grit and distortion. The vocals come in and the drums are much more relaxed with a rim shot sound acting like a metronome or ticking clock while Rory comes in with beautifully mixed and produced vocals. The drums become electronic while the next guitar part is incredibly bright and atmospheric along with the synth pads in the background coming together into a wave of comforting, warm rock music.

The chorus is beautiful, with the same open and bright distortion from the beginning. The vocals only add and make it even bigger and grander, with powerful lyrics about losing a loved one. About pain and heart break. The lyrics get quite graphic, yet still have a beauty to them mixing with the music perfectly.

The second verse feels very short before we're back into the pre chorus and chorus, which is a shame but it still sounds nice. With the instrumentals building into another pounding and elegant chorus of beautiful vocals and elegant music.

Instead of a third verse or breakdown, we just get the pre chorus again with only the vocals spread out and synth atmospheres. It sounds almost like it is going to have a future bass type drop with the kick rising and the riser before we go into another chorus.

Construction wise, it is slightly different and has a lot of the same elements as the previous two tracks with the synthwave influence evident along with the metalcore choruses and great vocals. The guitars sound much more bright and airy than before while still having the distorted grit and dirt to them and the drums are just as pounding and pulsing as ever.

Track 4: Shapeshift

Shapeshift starts off right away with vocals and synth pads. The vocals sound the most produced they have so far, becoming much more atmospheric than any of the previous intros. The synths also sound great, with beautiful sound design and melodies.

The drums and guitars come in quick, with a pulsing dirt that gives me memories of more outrun style rock music. With a 4 on the floor feeling and heavy synths underneath the grimy guitars that are much darker and dirtier than before. The synths in the background are much more aggressive and darker sounding while the heavy guitar riffs that act as little fills here and there keep the momentum and excitement.

The chorus is pounding away with the elements all combining together into outrun or darkwave hardcore. Metal becoming a bit further back despite the heavy guitars and drums. The continued building and forward progession keeps the song chugging along with no real feeling of slowing down or anything. It feels like a lot of building to powerful, pounding choruses with vocals that are much more varied in the types of delivery. Much more falsetto and higher register plus more subtle growls.

Then the breakdown comes in and has a much more produced, almost glitch sound to it with very short and subtle but noticeable little bits of silence. Music cutting out or just a drum hit to give some air over top of incredibly distorted and filtered vocals and screams. Guitar hits and incredibly loud, pounding kicks that carry us into the final chorus with such dark energy and brutal chugs.

Ending into a chorus that is much more open and half time drums than the previous ones, like it was trying to go from dirty and dark to bright and light to end on, even if the build to it could've been longer and built up more.

This song was not as strong as the previous ones, but is still great for being different. Much more outrun influenced with the heavier, darker synths taking over and the grinding guitars. I am hoping that this will just be a very very subtle weak point of the album and we continue to move upwards.

Track 5: Soulburn

This song starts off much slower and more peaceful. Entirely synths and filtered vocals that sound relaxed. Mellowed out and peaceful while the lyrics using things like phoenixes and pain.

The song builds slowly and very subtly to a chorus, which comes in with a bit of a filtered drum breakbeat and the continuing of the mellow synth elements. It is an incredibly soft and somber track that goes against the previous ones perfectly. A great place to slot this track with much different feeling and elements. A beautiful sound, if in my opinion the vocals are perhaps not the strongest here due to the production and style of the track. Rory is so talented that too much production on them often hurts rather than helps the music.

The drums are beautiful and I am a massive fan of the vibes of the track, keeping it soft and mellow. The airy, open synth pads with the vocal harmonies sounding beautiful. A great synthwave track through and through.

But then we get the build with something that I always love on albums.

When songs perfectly blend one into another.

Track 6: Bloodlust

If you are not paying attention, you will not even notice that the song changes.

Bloodlust starts off with the same subtle pads and filtered drums when distorted guitar comes in chugging along and a heavily distorted scream leads way into pounding live drums and dirty guitars.

I am a MASSIVE fan of when albums do this. Combining songs so smoothly together to lead one into the other. It shows a care and attention to details that always works.

The vocals are much more natural while the synthwave elements are still present, but much more aggressive and less mellow. The drums in the verse are still electronic, but the pre chorus and chorus come in with heavily distorted guitar and much heavier drums pounding away.

We get quite a few things with music dropping out for vocals, followed by the "Bloodlust" that the song started with. Heavily distorted leading into a brutal breakdown that is energetic and powerful.

This song is much more all over the place then previous, with each section sounding almost like a different genre. It works well enough, but does sort of cause subtle whiplash with the music feeling like it doesn't ever really reach "home" in a sense of familiarity or patterns. But it all sounds incredibly well produced and perfectly crafted, leading into a final breakdown that is the darkest and heaviest one so far.

A much more "brutal" and hardcore song than the previous with the most amount of screaming and heavy guitars mixed with the blasting drums, yet the other parts of the song also have some of the most pop and catchy melodies or singing. It is a song that perhaps has too many moving parts and changes, yet does its best to keep them somewhat cohesive and together the best that it can.

Track 7: Cemetery Blues

Cemetery Blues comes in sounding a whole lot like Soulburn with the synthwave elements, somber pianos, and mellow drums filtered into the background. It builds very subtly and has some weird glitchy bits to keep it exciting and keep the listener guessing. But when the chorus is coming, the build up is more obvious.

But then the momentum sort of disappears for a bit until we suddenly get heavy guitar chords and pounding live drums. It wasn't the smoothest of transitions and only lasted a few bars before we go back to the heavily produced, mellow synth elements and over produced vocals. It has a beautiful sound, but feels much more disjointed than the previous song Bloodlust.

The little stilted glitches are a nice touch and sound different, but the builds into the heavier parts of the track just continue to sound disjointed and like they came from another song. It feels stitched together in a messy way before we suddenly go into proper outrun metalcore with heavy synth bass, guitars, and drums with robotic like filters on the metal screams. It really does sound like a totally different song, and not really in the best way.

Now after that we get a much better combination of the guitars, drums, and synths with more natural vocals that sound incredible and bright and big. But again it sounds somewhat disjointed in the total body of the song. And it last only a few moments until the song ends.

This song is so far the weakest for me, as it just sounds like multiple ideas of other songs mashed into one and not transitioning between them all too well.

Track 8: Nocturnal Remedy

Track 8 comes in with much more of a cinematic synth and even orchestral string intro. The drums, synths, and vocals that come in sound like a march in a sense of the speed and rhythm. The groove is very very forward pushing and sounds the most like it would belong in a movie or a trailer. A very different sound that is welcome, if a tad bit cliche compared to their other songs.

Now don't get me wrong, it sounds incredible. A great electronic element and a absolutely beautiful chorus that I am a huge fan of. It sounds like it would slot into a Tron movie or something similar without sounding out of place. It's great! Just more generic than some of their other music that I tend to like a bit more.

The verses are fine enough and keep the momentum forward, while the ever adding and changing instrumental is beautiful. An evolving beast of music that keeps the listener invested and interested in what changes will come next.

The breakdown is one of the heavier ones, with the most amount of fills and changes than others. Grinding and pounding away with power that sounds great and slots right in perfectly. But then it drops out just as quickly as it appears into a much more relaxed thing into the last chorus that powers through.

A great track, but combining with the one beforehand sort of gives this section of the album a feeling of a lull in excitement or action.

Track 9: The Living Dead

Not as smoothly as Soulburn into Bloodlust, but Nocturnal Remedy does go into The Living Dead quite smoothly. A little reverse sound at the end of the previous song into this one is rather basic, but it is still something I enjoy a lot.

This was actually the moment in the album I just began to realize just how horror and scary coded this album was. A lot of the titles, lyrics, and styles go into a almost Halloween direction with some horrorcore elements involving death and scars and death. That's not bad, just different than some other stuff I had listened to by them.

The instrumental for this one starts off beautiful and mellow with some very nice sounding percussion and pianos. The vocals are a bit haunting, but then there are harmonies and it sounds like a ghostly choir. It sounds great and ethereal. Beautiful and haunting at the same time.

I was hoping for more of the somberness, and after the chorus it continues with only very subtle and soft additions like filtered drums and slight guitar tones. It keeps the pace and energy around the same, not building or rapidly changing too much to detract from the awesome vocals. The vocals are really what shine here, and with somebody as talented as Rory it is a real treat.

Beautifully composed and produced with not really anything wrong with it.

Track 10: Meet The Reaper

Track 10 comes in much more rock heavy and grooving. Bright synth bells over pulsing drums and guitars that sound incredible. The vocals come in and it sounds a bit more generic rock, but not really in the worst way. It has a nice groove and great vocals.

Then we get filtered vocals over a filtered breakbeat and synth pads that sound beautiful, even if the transition is somewhat abrupt.

We then go into the pounding chorus, which has a good amount of sidechain. I more so mean that in a way of it being distracting. It almost sounds like the kick makes everything drop down, causing it to have a weird bouncy quality or sound that I am not the biggest fan of.

But we get back into the breakbeat and vocals that sound great together. A beautiful dichotomy of sounds that just works great. And then it builds more into the rock and metal influence, but isn't as heavy as previous tracks which works perfectly for this one. It's lighter and brighter and more energetic. A nice, solid rock song that takes elements and influences from other styles, but stays true into this one into a beautiful collection of sonic harmony.

Track 11: Forgotten Ghost

The final track on the album. One that is incredibly fitting with the theme of the album and has a title that flows perfectly with the ones that come before it.

This one starts off much more smooth and almost pop. Very faded and filtered drums in the background with more catchy melodies and delivery in the vocals with more obvious autotune and a pulsing dance quality.

This comes into a much more bright and nice chorus and "metal-lite" sounding drop. The guitars, drums, pianos, vocals, and synths all sound as bright as ever on this album. It sounds great, but just a total different sound then the rest of the songs. A big 180 and exactly what this album should have ended on.

It has a beautiful pulse and groove that keeps things somewhat basic but just as nice sounding. The vocals are great and the guitars with the piano melodies in the chorus are truly my stand outs not just of this song, but possibly of the entire album. It has a great, spacious energy to it.

Overall Thoughts

The album has a lot of different styles and elements that come together. From Dayseeker's trademark synth elements into metalcore and hardcore to the more dirty and darker outrun influences, it has a great amount of variety in sounds while keeping the same typical layout and composition of their other music.

Rory Rodriguez, if you couldn't tell from this review, is one of my favorite singers in the world today. His vocals are incredible and his sheer range and ability to switch and control his tone so easily is truly incredible. He blends into every song perfectly regardless of style. I HIGHLY recommend their acoustic album Replica if you want to hear just how beautiful his voice is.

But the rest of the band sounds incredible. The drums always sound perfect in both production and playing. A clearly talented drummer in Zac Mayfield working alongside a great team of sound engineers. The guitars and bass are always sounding great and with each track having a unique amount of style and effects to make each one sound unique.

This album overall is great. I think all of the songs have their place and it is an album that just under 40 minutes, but feels even shorter. It feels full of energy and life and love. Passion that is obvious in the sound and production.

The only real low lights of the album, in my personal opinion, is the short stretch of songs 4-7. Even then, the songs are still good to great with tracks 4 and 7 perhaps being the weakest of the album, but it has more to do with the internal transitions within the songs compared to anything else. The layout of sections and how we go from one to another sometimes sounding too abrupt or too forced together. But other than that, this is an incredibly well produced and great sounding collection of songs that tell a beautiful story.

Maybe not an all time favorite album for me, but possibly one of the better ones of the year and easily one I will come back to often.

Final Album Rating: 8/10