Way Too Many People Love Haste the Day

Haste the Day, a band I’d previously written off as second-gen (third gen?) metalcore followers, are apparently really fucking popular: on the heels of announcing a reunion, they’ve crowd-funded over $33,000 of a $60,000 goal for a new album in a little over two days. Wowza!

It’s not that I’ve got anything against Haste the Day — they’re not a bad band — they just never offered anything all that musically original, and they seemed to always play second fiddle to genre-pioneering metalcore acts like Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall (or, if you want to go back even further, Converge, Every Time I Die, Dillinger Escape Plan and Cave In). In other words, in a sub-genre that’s incredible crowded with dozens, nay hundreds of mediocre bands that all sound pretty much the same, what is it about THIS band in particular that appeals to people? I guess it’s a Christian thing? The band seemed to get a lot of traction in that scene, and not nearly as much outside of it.

Haste the Day did write one song that I REALLY like, the opening track from 2007’s Pressure the Hinges. THAT RIFF! I can recall it anywhere. Otherwise… meh.

Before someone says it… I’m sure they’re all “the best dudes,” and are “really nice” and all that. Wonderful! I’d love to share a few beers with ’em some time.

So: are you excited for Haste the Day’s pending reunion album? Why or why not? Is it just a Christian thing, or just a nostalgic thing, or is there something awesome and unique about Haste the Day’s catalogue that I’ve been missing all this time? And