California-based Dayseeker recently released their third full-length ‘Dreaming is Sinking /// Waking is Rising’, an intriguing concept record told from the perspective of a comatose man, made to reflect on the changing events in the world around him, while he lies helpless in a hospital bed. ‘Abandon’ focuses on one of those events: the dissolution of his relationship, with his partner choosing to move while he remains in a vegetative state. “So tell me how you sleep at night knowing you left before I was awake. Now I feel my heart divide knowing how quickly you cast me aside,” our narrator laments.

The emotion behind the lyrics is brought to live spectacularly by Rory Rodriguez, whose soulful vocals tug at the heartstrings with each inflection of the melody. Rodriguez’s range is something to behold, managing to pivot from soaring melody to aggressive screams and everything in between, which brings to life the almost djent-like riffs, providing a meaty bottom-end to the band’s sound. ‘Abandon’ is a representative sample of the quality throughout ‘Dreaming is Sinking /// Waking is Rising’ and though I’m a little late to the party with Dayseeker, this record is phenomenal entry point.