Short Reviews [Days Before Tomorrow - 2023 - "Now and Then Part II. Stories and Dreams"]

This American band is new to me, but I can see there is some history behind them. They originally came together back in 2006 when guitarist/keyboardist Scott Kahn and keyboardist Jason Buchwald were joined by vocalist Eric Klein. After an alt rock-styled debut EP that featured drummer Kevin Soffera (Seether), the line-up evolved and solidified around second guitarist Derek Davodowich, bassist Robert “Zeek” Maziekien (Eternity X), and drummer Jason Gianni (Neal Morse Band, Joe Deninzon/Stratospheerius). They shifted more into melodic progressive rock and arena rock which led them to record their debut album, ‘The Sky Is Falling’, which saw them gain numerous accolades including Record of the Year in the 2009 Los Angeles Music Awards and a Grammy nomination, but the group disbanded three years later after recording (but not releasing) a follow-up. Reconciliation among some of the band members left the door to future collaboration open, and in 2022, Scott, Derek, and Eric decided to revive Days Before Tomorrow with some new musicians. The press release certainly implies this is an old recording as opposed to a new one, and that the new band will be recording and performing live, but when it comes to who played on this one all I can say is that Scott, Derek and Eric are definitely involved as they are part of the reformed unit, but as to whether the rest of the line-up is the old band or new I have no idea. Whatever, if the album is anything like this then I can certainly see why they won so many awards and I have no idea how I missed them first time around as this is one heck of a release. It is classified by the band as an EP, just five songs at 34 minutes in length, and brings in many elements from classic Kansas and Styx. Klein is one heck of a singer, really able to hit the notes when he needs to, without any effort whatsoever, as they blend melodic rock with prog, often straight down the middle but at others more on one side than the other. It is a highly commercial release which any proghead into this style of music will sit there listening to with their jaw open wondering how they have not previously come across this band, I know I did. If this material is more than 10 years old then we should be incredibly grateful it is finally out in the open and one can only hope the new recordings will stand up to the test, and that is something I am certainly eager to find out.