The Year 2004: Days in Grief – Portrait of Beauty

Love Music – Support Sea Rescue

Donate to Sea Punks and Help to Save Lives

• Facebook
• Spotify

Days in Grief – Portrait of Beauty
Album | 29/03/2004 | Eat the Beat Music
45:33 | 14 tracks | CD/Digital
Post Hardcore / Emocore
Cologne, Germany

Freed from Poison

Whether Portrait of Beauty was Days in Grief’s real debut album or the previous DIY longplayer … Lessons from the Past should actually bear this title will not be answered in this text. In any case, Portrait of Beauty was the album that helped the quartet from Cologne to their great success. Originally, Poisonfree Records should have published the album, but after three weeks in the studio and lots of disagreements, a contract with Eat the Beat Music was signed. The following album Behind the Curtain of a Modern Tomorrow was released ibidem, as well as on Roadrunner Records, Radar Musikkontor, and Eastpak.

Raw Power, Pure Emotions, and Anger

Portrait of Beauty is a true zeitgeist document that stands for a very special movement of the early 21st century. Days in Grief combined the overt expression of emotions with deep dissatisfaction about modern-day nuisances. The band tells about true beauty and its core in pure nature, but also fulminates against the coarsening of the world, especially against US warfare in Afghanistan. This explosive package was then wrapped up in a thunderstorm made from Hardcore, Post Hardcore, Emocore, and some magic.

Foundation of a Legacy

Over the seven years of their existence, Days in Grief have turned the world of emotional and sharp-edged (Post) Hardcore upside down. The two albums Portrait of Beauty and Behind the Curtain of a Modern Tomorrow especially are two explosive beasts of releases that merge binary oppositions. With Crispr Cas Method being the successor of Days in Grief, a more gentle version of this sound has been continued. And to wrap up the talk about Portrait of Beauty, this album is a true masterpiece which stands for the whole era.
9/10 Mangoes

Next week in this series:

The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to die (1994 | Bad Boy Records)