Sadness Will Prevail

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Sadness Will Prevail
Today Is the Day - Sadness Will Prevail.jpeg
Studio album by
Today Is the Day
ReleasedSeptember 3, 2002 (2002-09-03)
RecordedDecember 1, 1999 (1999-12-01)–April 26, 2002 (2002-04-26)
StudioAustin Enterprise, Nashville, Tennessee
Mastering, Clinton, Massachusetts
GenreNoisecore, avant-garde metal, post-hardcore, mathcore, sludge metal, post-metal
Length144:46
LabelRelapse
ProducerSteve Austin
Today Is the Day chronology
Live Till You Die
(2000) 		Sadness Will Prevail
(2002) 		Kiss the Pig
(2004)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic2.5/5 stars[1]
ApeshitVery Positive[2]
BlisteringVery Negative[3]
BraveWords8.0/10 stars[4]
Chronicles of Chaos6.5/10 stars[5]
Maelstrom ZinePositive[6]

Sadness Will Prevail is a double album and the sixth release overall by Today Is the Day, released on September 3, 2002 through Relapse Records. At over two hours and twenty-five minutes in length, it is currently the longest album of the band's career as well as their most polarizing in terms of critical reception.

Background[]

The album took three years to write and six months to record, mix, and master all at Steve Austin's self run studio Austin Enterprise.[7] Reoccurring themes of the album include isolation, depression, death, suicide, and violence. The album, for the most part, was inspired by a period of time when Austin was stuck in his home due to a severe snow storm with his family.[8] Another big inspiration for the album was the rise of technology and the internet, which according to Austin, influenced his decision to stop using his phone to instead use E-Mail to communicate with other people.

According to Austin, the biggest inspiration for him to do a two-hour double disc album was in attempt to progress from the "really fast and stripped down" In the Eyes of God. Each track on the album was intentionally mixed so that there was a continuous flow between one track to the next, this was done in attempt to give the album a tone similar to that of a movie soundtrack.[7] The artwork for the album, a grainy black-and-white photograph of a drug addicted woman sitting in the corner of an empty room, was specifically chosen for the album's cover because it goes along with the album's themes of despair and impending doom.[9]

The audio sample from "Christianized Magick" was taken from the 2000 film Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, a documentary about the West Memphis Three.[8]

Reception[]

Upon its initial release in 2002, Sadness Will Prevail received mixed critical reception. William York, of AllMusic, gave the record two and a half stars out of five, questioning the album's low-end lacking mixing and critiquing what he refers to as "the abundance of filler on [the] two discs".[1] Xander Hoose of Chronicles of Chaos gave the album six and a half stars out of a possible ten, stating that Austin's performance on the album is "far below his capabilities" and criticizing his vocals and production work on the album.[5] R. Temin of Blistering.com gave the album a thumbs down for its vocals, long runtime, and packaging, referring to it as "pretentious crap".[3]

Maelstrom Zine's Roberto Martinelli, on the other hand, praised the album and called it the group's "most diverse and complete effort".[6] Extreme metal fanzine Apeshit also gave the album a positive review, stating that Sadness Will Prevail contained "the darkest, most miserable, schizophrenic suicidal sounds you're most likely find" and ending their review stating that it is "the most original, albeit miserable album in recent memory".[2] Similarly, BraveWords editor Chris Bruni called the album "one of the harshest, most insane releases [he's] heard all year".[4]

Track listing[]

All tracks are written by Steve Austin.

Disc One (X)
No.TitleLength
1."Maggots And Riots"2:58
2."Criminal"4:40
3."Distortion Of Nature"2:45
4."Crooked"2:59
5."Butterflies"3:07
6."Unearthed"3:16
7."The Descent"4:59
8."Death Requiem"4:17
9."Christianized Magick"5:24
10."Voice Of Reason: Vicious Barker"2:20
11."Face After The Shot"4:09
12."The Ivory Of Self-Hate"3:40
13."The Nailing"5:35
14."Mistake"3:35
15."Invincible"7:30
16."Aurora"3:02
17."Sadness Will Prevail"8:04
18."You Gotta Give A Man A Mile" (Japanese CD bonus track)2:26
Disc Two (Y)
No.TitleLength
1."Myriad"6:09
2."Spaceship"1:54
3."Flowers Made Of Flesh"3:21
4."Your Life Is Over"4:31
5."Control The Media"6:39
6."Vivicide"2:33
7."Miasma"1:01
8."Times Of Pain"4:02
9."Breadwinner"1:20
10."Friend"2:08
11."Never Answer The Phone"23:15
12."I Live To See You Smile"4:28
13."Sadness Will Prevail Theme"11:25
14."The Good Life" (Japanese CD bonus track)5:33

Accolades[]

Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
2002 Rockdelux Spain "Albums of the Year" 9 [10]
2002 Terrorizer United Kingdom "Albums of the Year" 27 [11]
2006 Exclaim! Canada "Top Ten Albums of 2002" 10 [12]
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Personnel[]

Adapted from the Sadness Will Prevail liner notes.[13]

Today Is the Day

  • Steve Austin – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, sampler, piano, keyboards, production, mixing, recording, mastering, cover art, design
  • Chris Debari – bass guitar, guitar
  • Marshall Kilpatric – drums, percussion

Production and additional personnel

Release history[]

Region Date Label Format Catalog
United States 2002 Relapse 2CD RR 6532

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b York, William. "Sadness Will Prevail". Allmusic. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Rajah, Shady. "Sadness Will Prevail Review". apeshit.org. Apeshit. Retrieved 2002-12-23.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Temin, R. "Blistering's Review of Sadness Will Prevail". blistering.com. Blistering. Retrieved 2003. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Bruni, Chris. "Sadness Will Prevail Review". bravewords.com. Retrieved 2002-10-10.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Hoose, Xander. "Chronicle Of Chaos Review of Sadness Will Prevail". chroniclesofchaos.com. Chronicles Of Chaos. Retrieved 2003-03-21.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Martinel, Roberto. "Sadness Will Prevail Review". maelstromzine.com. Maelstrom Zine. Retrieved 2004. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Pearce, Nathan. "Today Is The Day's Steve Austin". ultimatemetal.com. Ultimate Metal. Retrieved 2002-10-02.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Hawkins, Chris. "Exclusive! Today Is The Day Vocalist/Guitarist Steve Austin". KNAC.com. KNAC. Retrieved 2003-02-04.
  9. ^ Kube. "Black As Fuck: Interview with Steve Austin". ox-fanzine.de. OX-Fanzine. Retrieved 2003. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  10. ^ "Rock De Lux 2002: Albums of the Year". Rockdelux. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  11. ^ "Terrorizer Albums Of The Year 2002". Terrorizer. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  12. ^ "Aggressive Tendencies - Top Ten of 2002". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 1, 2006.
  13. ^ Sadness Will Prevail (booklet). Today Is the Day. Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania: Relapse Records. 2002.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)

External links[]

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