Being a fan of Aiden and a couple other Victory Records bands, I have heard non-stop about On The Last Day for the past, oh, month (if not longer). I got some promotional stuff for the release of their album, Meaning In The Static, and have been hearing about it a lot. But you know how it is with something new; the latest is always the greatest. It’s really easy to hype a band and throw a big promotional campaign behind them… maybe to disguise the fact that there’s really nothing new about them, but hey, they have a flashy logo and some cool looking merch, so maybe the kiddies will buy the CD anyhow. Would this be one of those albums, or something with some legs of its own?

So I hopped over to the online CD listening “party” to find out.

There were only about 3 dozen people in the actual AIM chat room, though I can’t help but think there must have been more listening. Aiden had promoted the event heavily on their myspace, so there were a lot of Aiden fans there — actually, a lot of them seemed more interested in talking about Aiden than the event at hand. I guess that’s to be expected, though. That, and the inevitable Victory-bashing were interspersed with some genuinely interesting comments from the band, as well as some fun (breakdown warning!) stuff.

The chat, of course, wasn’t the main event, though. I’m pretty sure we got to listen to the whole CD, though there were some streaming problems on my end. I was immediately drawn in by the intensity and the energy of the music. My first thought was that I couldn’t wait to see them live. Their guitars bring to mind the intensity that I love so much from, for instance, Aiden’s “Knife Blood Nightmare,” and they keep that intensity up through the whole album. Sure, it ebbs a little at times into a bit more melodic, slow terrain to kind of give listeners a breather, but it never lasts long. The title track (and first single) is a very good example of this. You can hear it streaming on their myspace, among other places.

The thing that amazed me the most about this album was that for the virtually nonstop intensity of the music, it never got repetitive. The guitar riffs and licks were innovative and creative, and the vocals were clear and strong. This wasn’t a muddy, overproduced screamfest. There is some serious talent here, and they bring a lyricism and musicality to this genre that I’ve found often missing. The songs themselves are dynamic, best showcased by the final track of the album, “The Meaning And The Journey.” It runs the entire gamut of the band’s diverse sound, and is a great end-note to the album.

I’m looking forward to listening to the album again. I’ll be buying it tomorrow for certain, but if you aren’t convinced, they are having another listening party at 3 pm, which you can access at the Victory Records site or at Victory’s social networking site, victorme.com. This album is definitely worth giving a chance, and I am excited about catching On The Last Day live at some point. It’s pretty refreshing to encounter a band and an album that actually lives up to all the hype that precedes it.

Anyone else heard any of the songs yet? What do you think?