Final Gasp expands their personal, emotive blend of deathrock and hardcore on the moving New Day Symptoms.
Release Date: February 27, 2026 | Relapse Records | Bandcamp | Instagram
So, it has come to pass; another blend of post-punk and some harder genre has pulled me in. It feels like peppering goth rock into more aggressive genres has been the flavor of the day, but hey, the results have spoken for themselves every damn time. This time, it’s Boston’s Final Gasp that caught me by both ears. And once again, the results are glorious.
Final Gasp was already a familiar name, having dropped the great debut Mourning Moon in 2023. Their own specific mix of deathrock gloom with punchy hardcore aggression was an absolute treat, so the hype for New Day Symptoms set in pretty much immediately. Several listens later, it’s totally safe to say New Day Symptoms lived up to the hype and even shows some nice growth to set it apart from Mourning Moon.
Now, all the elements that made their previous work a breath of fresh graveyard air are still in place. New Day Symptoms is still packed with washy, effects-laden guitar passages that share space with punchy hardcore riffs, and the overall gloomy atmosphere remains suffocatingly thick. Where New Day Symptoms sets itself apart is in an upped sense of nuance and, dare I say, a more textured approach. Final Gasp punches hard when they need to, and that proves to be often, but there’s a more languid feeling to this album that makes it all the more emotionally resonant.
Now by all means, both sides of Final Gasp‘s approach work well. “Look Away” kicks off the album proper with fiery energy, and Jake Murphy’s vocals stand out immediately as potent and powerful. Tracks like “Gifted Shame” and “The Apparition” are packed full of slick riff work and excellent drumming, and I daresay “Burials of Birth” proved the single catchiest tune on the album to me. The energy is palpable, and the band’s penchant for weaving great hardcore guitars into their own filter of gloom remains firmly intact.
Over time, though, it ended up being the softer moments where New Day Symptoms really shined brightest for me. In particular, the fadeout of the title track into “Pale Sun”, inaugurated with sparse guitars and some haunting singing from Murphy felt like a true emotional highlight, and even raised goosebumps at least a couple times. For all the energy in his performance, I genuinely would have loved a few more sung passages on New Day Symptoms, but at the very least “Pale Sun” hits very hard. “No Hand To Lead” hits similarly with its languid pacing and layered vocals, perfectly fitting the foggy, damp days that marked my last few listens before sitting down to write this review.
It’s those softer bits, and the little nuances, that really elevate New Day Symptoms. The understated yet moving guitar solos in “No Hand to Guide”. The Killing Joke-esque tribal drumming at the start of the title track. The vocal layering. Everything comes together in a way that crawls under the skin and touches the soul. There’s a whole lot of feeling across New Day Symptoms, and given the dire state of the world, it’s a lovely thing to have music that’s properly cathartic in this way. Wrap it all in a stellar production from the legendary Arthur Rizk, and Final Gasp was really onto something creating this album. Hell, I daresay my only big complaint is the brevity of the album, but you have to leave the listener wanting more, right?
New Day Symptoms, for all its gloom, is a resonant album that honestly felt comforting to listen to. Final Gasp doesn’t waste a single second in bearing all the anxieties and sadness afflicting us, both internally and externally. Nothing must be sugar coated, and that honesty makes New Day Symptoms the sort of album where you’ll remember the mood even more so than the genuinely great music supporting that mood. It’s nice to know we’re not just feeling all of these woes alone, and Final Gasp has an excellent grasp on just how to convey them.
