Masochist Music Review: My Darkest Days

What can I say, I’m a masochist when it comes to music.  I like to have complete catalogues when it comes to my favorite musicians.  Sometimes this is a good thing (Alice Cooper, AC/DC) but oftentimes it’s not.  Not only that, but I used to fall into the trap of hearing one or two great songs and purchasing a whole album because of it, which sometimes produced a diamond, but usually only coal.  During this series, we will dwell on some of the albums I have in my collection that are downright terrible.  I will re-listen to them all and give you my impression of them.

Now this is only my opinion, so don’t take it as gospel.  If you like a particular album in this series, let me know, we’ll open up a discussion about it.  I’m always open to discussing the merits of any particular album, and if you have any suggestions (and especially if you have the album itself and are willing to share your views) then let me know and I’d be happy to add it to the list.

Album Name: My Darkest Days

Artist:  My Darkest Days

Release Date: September, 2010

Why you bought it:  Most of the bad albums that I buy can be categorized as just part of a collection (I want all of the Metallica albums, so I will purchase St. Anger, etc.).  This is one of the times where I had never heard the band before but I wanted to purchase the album based on one song (never a good idea).  I heard their song “Porn Star Dancing” on the radio, and while the song itself was pretty generic and the lyrics were just begging to be laughed at, it had one thing that most other songs didn’t: Zakk Wylde on guitar.  As a huge Zakk Wylde and Black Label Society fan, I figured if these guys had his stamp of approval, they couldn’t be that bad.  Plus, if there was any more of Zakk’s guitar solos on the record it would be worth it.

First impressions:  Shame on me.  The one song that was any good was the one song I had already heard.  The rest of the record was generic, unlistenable drivel.  When I was researching the album prior to writing this it said that the band was “discovered” by Chad Kroeger of Nickelback…and it all makes sense.

Impressions upon listening to it recently:  I realize that there is a market for this kind of sound, obviously, or else all of the new bands of the past ten years wouldn’t sound like it, but there is no real quality to this band or this record that makes it stand out.   It’s not the worst record to come out of the “everybody sounds like Nickelback” era, but it’s damn close.

Any saving grace?:    One Zakk Wylde guitar part does not a good album make.  So no, no saving grace here.

Was it worth the purchase?: Not at all, no.