Kerrang! Magazine counts New Years Day among an elite handful of bands inspiring the next generation. Led by “the vibrant force of nature that is frontwoman Ash Costello,” New Years Day unleash anthems of discontent and empowerment, delivered with gothic flair and theatrical bombast.
It’s a sound that crashed into the Mainstream Rock Top 40 for the first time in 2019 with a top 15 rock radio charting single “Shut Up” followed up by the cathartic “Hurts Like Hell,” which finished 2022 as one of SiriusXM Octane’s Top 25 songs of the year. Each successive victory is a celebration of hard-fought creative freedom, unstoppable determination, and dedicated fans. Throngs of diehards and newcomers alike sing and sweat along with New Years Day, at festivals, in clubs, or on tours with Halestorm, Falling In Reverse, Motionless In White, Ice Nine Kills, In This Moment and Set It Off.
Saints and sinners, victims and victors. In sound and vision, New Years Day walk the line between darkness and light. The band’s duality comes to fruition on Half Black Heart, an unrepentant and unashamed album championing discovery, from the darkest secrets to one’s inner strength.
Unrestrained fury collides with arena-ready glamor, confrontational DIY passion, and melodic hooks. “Hurts Like Hell,” “Vampyre,” “Bulletproof,” “Fearless,” the title track, and the rest of Half Black Heart join an already impressive catalog of songs, like “Come for Me,” “Skeletons,” “Kill or Be Killed,” and “Shut Up.” Fans have streamed “Angel Eyes” more than 14 million times on Spotify alone.
Victim to Villain (2013), Malevolence (2015), and Unbreakable (2019) deeply resonate with listeners who cherish them as timeless keepsakes, marking different times in their own personal evolution. It’s because Costello,who skillfully conjures horror and comicbook aesthetics as allegory, is one of them. In cinematic music videos, transcendent live performances, and daily interaction (virtualor in-person) with like-minded misfits, this band makes pleasure from pain. Even when it hurts like hell.
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