We're going to be taking about 6 months off to get our lives in order.  We might play one or two last shows before the end of the summer, but nothing is certain right now.  Sorry to everyone that was going to come out to our shows or who helped book the shows.

In the mean time, we'll still be posting some new songs as well as some live videos so keep an eye out for that.

We also might be featured on a few comps so we'll keep you updated on that as well.

Thanks to all for your support.

The Lyrics for "The Romance" are official and will not be changed. Tell us what you think.

1.) INTRO

2.) Wilt and Devour

(All)

Bodies align beneath the lights.

Shining down upon our faces,

We stand filth caked

And showered with war,

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Screaming,

Brothers, sisters,

This is The Romance…This is Romance

We are the gods

We are the masters…

The true monsters of God!

We run, We March, We Rise!

For we deserve more

Than the graves

Entitled alone (x2)

(This is Romance)

For we shall die

Screaming, I Tried! (x4)

For we shall die

Side by side

Of our Lover's Arms.

3.) Nightmare's Azure Womb

Bury me at dawn and I will not suffer;

I will wipe the death from my black aged eyes.

Bury me in black and I will not shiver

I will dry the death from my eyes.

Bury me in flames and I will not scream;

Send me out dear – send me out with roses.

Bless these eyes with coins and midnight wings.

I will merely sing and sing and sing.

Sing…Sing…

Call me distance now

Call me lifeless now

Call me romance now

Call me God now

Oh Christ, what have I become from all that I've endured?

It's all a bloody mess just as she said it would

Become. (What Have I Become).

4.) This Body is a Town

In death, music plays.

Drums stomp out a death march as

Strings choke what may have been such a beautiful dream.

Lightning…

Thunder…

Both beat down upon the town

That is my home – as I scream, as I scream,

As I scream I'm through, I'm through, I'm through, I'm…

And then

When all feels lost, all looks lost, and really is

Lost – a boy awakes to find a man.

All music is no more.

And within the clap of a prayer

The sun hovers as its own delicate love song.

And the lavender curtains of dawn reveal

A day for true love.

And it is true

Within the clap of a prayer.

5.) Terror Down

Dear Love

Dear Heart…

Dear Leila,

This here is a fairwell note –

Dear Heart,

And so I begin this blackest nite –

Dear Love,

For years I have known no other love

Than that within your womb

But I'm stripping your crown on down

Down, Love. I'm stripping your crown on down.

Dear Leila, Leila, Leila…

I dreamt of roses…so,

Where are my blue roses?

Recently, our good friend and former bassist Ken Miller posted a blog featuring some rare demo and live tracks from his days with Last Day Dying.  Check it out and download the music at the bottom of the blog:

Throughout the two years LDD spent writing the full length "Lover's Arms," I collected about 16 cds worth of Last Day Dying Demos, Rehearsals, and Live Recordings. It amounted to almost 3 hours worth of material, a total of 31 tracks (multiple versions of 12 different songs, including: 10 Rehearsals, 9 Demos, 10 Live Cuts, 1 Studio outtake, and 1 spliced track). From this material, I compiled a collections of 13 tracks; My choice cuts from all the recordings during the 2 years leading up to the release of the CD. It won't exactly all fit onto a CD, but most of you probably have ipods. So here you go.

LAST DAY DYING
Dress Rehearsal (Demos & Recordings 2004-2005)

1. With The Decapitation Of Big Top We Made Our Skin
[Rehearsal - Spring 2004]
This was the very first recording of the first song I wrote with LDD. Originally, it was intended for the split that was planned with Dare I Say. I think it marked a turning point for LDD, elevating the band past just a metalcore band to a creative blend of melodic progressive metal, moshy two-step hardcore, and heavy breakdowns. The song was later named "Tramp's Last Bow," when vocalist-Mark started to envision a story that would become the concept for the full length.

2. 2 Pennies
[Live at The Grange in Malvern, PA - Spring 2004]
This was the first live performance of another song that was intended for the split with Dare I Say. This one focused more on drawing movement and energy from the crowd. It was fast, hard, and heavy. The song would be thrown all over the set. Sometimes we'd open with it, sometimes we'd close with it, or sometimes play it in the middle of the set – the interlude in the middle of the song was a nice "breather" to break up the set. This song was later renamed "Snapshot Wedding Vows," to fit in with Mark's concept.

3. Leaving Cold Blue
[Live at Club 218 in Philadelphia, PA - August 2005]
One of the things I loved most about playing with LDD, was the counterbalance between the tightly polished studio recording and the raw, emotional and energetic live performances. The LP version of this song is so tight, and so clean. This live version is a great contrast.

4. Shorter Than A Holiday
[Rehearsal / No Vocals - Summer 2004]
This is a practice recording, from before the vocals were completed for the song. After completing the writing of the music, we would generally record it using Ross' video camera, and he would bounce it down to CD for Mark to write vocals for. I love this song. It is short and sweet.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        5. Time-Span Of A Heart-Attack
[Live at Club 218 in Philadelphia, PA - August 2005]
This one just shows the openness and willingness to have fun. This show was the night before Conor's 21st birthday. He is the youngest in the band, so we were celebrating our boy being all growns-up. As we were setting up on stage, I talked to Matt and Mark about pausing in the middle of the song to sing Happy Birthday. Matt controls the natural pause in the center of the song, because we wait for his guitar chug to go into the next part. Conor had no idea. His reaction was great. Having this recorded version is great.

6. Tramp's Last Bow
[Live at The Crowbar in State College, PA - Summer 2004]
In the summer of 2004 we toured for 2 weeks with Dare I Say across PA, up into NY, and down through NJ. Our first stop, and most enjoyable date on the tour was State College, PA. We began the day playing at the Penn State Campus radio station. We hung out in town trying to advertise the show that night at a place called the Crowbar. I'm sure the places really fills up when a rock-pop cover band plays. But for metal… it wasn't happening. To make matters worse, it was a battle of the bands. So we were competing with our friends in Dare I Say. Not really. In actuality we all voted for each other. A female fronted rock band wound up winning. Good for them. This was a great recording of our "hit" at the time. We had championed the song by this point. Dare I Say was on the dance floor singing along. We two bands were pretty much off in our own world the entire tour.

7. Snapshot Wedding Vows (Outtake)
[Claycreek Studio, Newark, DE - Fall 2004]
We recorded Lover's Arms in two chunks. This was the version of this song from the first session in 2004. We decided to re-record it when we went back into the studio in 2005. There was nothing necessarily bad about this recording. We just thought we had improved playing it. I think the same could be said about the first 4 songs on the album… but we didn't have the time money or energy to re-record everything. The major noticeable difference is Mark's lyrics. Again, there wasn't anything bad about them… he just liked the newer lyrics better. They fit better with the concept leading into the second half of the album. This is what kind of made in necessary to re-record it.

8. Let's Hear It For The Martyrs (Demo)
[Matt Nye Studio, Downingtown, PA - Fall 2005]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                This was the first song written for the second half of the album. In the summer of 2005 we started to get our process down tight. Before going into the studio we added the step of "demoing" the songs so we had an idea of how we wanted the songs to sound when we went into the studio for real to record… and pay for it. Up until Mark named it, this song was being referred to as "The Metal Song." We were pulling influences from Metal bands new and old, east and west.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
9. Rope Dancer (Demo)
[Matt Nye Studio, Downingtown, PA - Fall 2005]
We wanted Matt to contribute a piece of ambient work to put before the final act of the album's story. When listened to in the order of the album, this song is really touching. Matt composed and recorded the first half of this song digitally. Then we recorded the second half live. There are no vocals on this recording.

10. Christopher's Evidence (Demo)
[Blackbox Studio, Somewhere, DE - 2005]
This song was originally recorded on their first self-produced full length "Anatomy Of A Collapse." We were toying with the idea of re-recording it for the album. We were regularly playing this one in our live sets. We beefed up the song a little bit. But for the most part, the original version is in tack. The plans to include it on the album got dropped once Mark completed the concept story. It was then pushed to maybe putting on a future EP.

11. "Indie Song"
[Rehearsal / No Vocals - Date Unknown]
Conor and Matt were working on this prior to me joining the band. Mid way through the Lover's Arms writing, they showed it to me, and we were all for using it on the album. However, due to the later songs growing in length, we wouldn't have been able to fit it on the album, which, without it, was clocking at 70 minutes. It was added into the planning for the next EP, along with Christopher's evidence. This is another instrumental practice recording. No vocals were ever written. I think LDD may be using parts of this song for a song on their upcoming EP.

12. Kiss Or Stop Breathing
[Rehearsal - Summer 2005]
Feedback… drum intro… a millions and one transitions… a long guitar solo… sing along "wo-ohs" …this song had it all. And it was at the point of writing this song, which LDD had stretched the boundaries so far, it allowed us to do anything we damn well wanted to do in a song. It's great to push that boundary musically, to open the doors and not have to follow a format.

13. For The Ghost…
[Rehearsal / No Vocals - Fall 2005]
What ….A 20 fucking minute song? …Can you say "Progressive-Metalcore?" When we went in to record the first 5 songs, Nick from Claycreek commented about our choice for the first song on the album. It was 10 minutes long. He was pushing us to make it last, saying that epic songs should always be last. We disagreed. The intro to Cold Blue was exactly how we wanted to start the CD. So, jokingly we told him that the last song was going to be 20 minutes long. Well… that actually happened. It actually happened naturally, too. The song wasn't forced into being 20 minutes. We just had a lot of ideas. This recording is from before we finished writing. The ending is not complete. The last quarter of this track is actually all improvisation. We weren't sure how it was going to end. After recording this and listening to it non-stop during the week in between practices, we brought back several ideas, and completed the song.

Download Part 1 and Part 2:
http://www.mediafire.com/?n12zezjyzoo

http://www.mediafire.com/?tzjjjmyzjm2

This is not an official LDD release. It is just a compilation of songs I massed over the 3 years I was in the band. You can purchase all of the band's release through the band itself.

-Metal Ken
visit my blog: http://vacantplanets.blogspot.com 

Lyrics are all finalized for our upcoming ep, "The Romance". Read them and think what you will...And, as always, we would love to hear your feedback.

Thank you all

The Romance: Phase One

The Inner-Truth of Knowing

(All)

Bodies align beneath the lights.

Shining down upon the gates,

We stand filth caked

And showered with war,

Screaming,

Brothers, sisters,

This is The Romance,

This is the end of our world!

We are the gods

We are the masters, the true monsters of God!

There is hope

In the silence of all lover's lungs.

We shall continue our death march

To slash the throats of the foe

To spill the blood, drain the blood

Of this on-going crime red retribution.

For we deserve more

Than the graves

Entitled alone.

For we shall die

Screaming, I Tried!

For we shall die

Screaming,

We rise, we fight,

And

We die side by side

Of our Lover's Arms.

.....................................

The Romance: Phase Two

Azure Rays of a Nightmare

Somewhere in the mouth of yesterday

Our dreams melt as a bitter fruit.

In the cool spring mouth of last night

Harps strike, music plays.

And all alive, seemingly trapped

Behind eyes and imagination, sweat;

It's all they can do.

Unwelcomed are the notes

But still,

The unbreakable strings of harps pluck on.

The fanged teeth of pianos shine, the black lips of pure melody grin.

All have their minds

And from out the sides

Great arms of pure muscle beat down;

Down, down, up and down again,

They beat on the taught skin of pigs.

Thunder, Lightning –

Both are at war beyond the vast horizons of yesterday;

Thunder, Lightning –

Reverberating throughout the hall of last night,

They slash over and over,

From right ear to left ear

The rough throats of the foe.

Music plays as mind's arms swell;

Stronger with each pounding of the drums,

The muscles flex and sweat and taunt the dreamer.

Strings of the harps, drunk with song,

Sprout thorns for every fresh note.

Pianos bite incessantly, and the music itself

Swallows our dreams,

And the dream swallows all, drowning all;

But we will not remain

Left for dead

Within the gut of our years gone.

........................................................

The Romance: Phase Three

The Blooming

In death, the music plays.

Drums stomp out a death march for one.

Strings strangle and choke what may have once been such a beautiful dream.

The lightning,

The thunder –

Both beat down the embodied body of a nightmare.

And then,

When all feels lost, looks lost, and really is lost,

A little boy awakes to find a man.

All music is no more, or so it seems.

The world is as it is meant to be, or so it seems.

The sun hovers as its own delicate love song.

And the lavender curtains of a muslin cloud

Reveal a day for true love.

And it is true.

One man is born that day.

He rises to take a bow,

Because one man is all one man needs.

He takes a moment to tie his shoes.

The world is his again and without any music at all,

One man takes his first step. And from that step,

One man dances and dances and dances.

The Music Never really Stops…

..............................................................

The Romance: Phase Four

Dear Leila: A Fairwell to Arms

Dear Leila, the romance has gone too far.

And now that I'm blind,

I am ripping out all those

Stars you stole from God.

I'm stripping your blackest cape down,

For I am the bearer of terror's crown.

Please Lover, Dear Leila,

(you must know) I'm begging to choose.

So, now,

You must just let me go.

And,

Please,

Know not to suffer. For

The sun is still kissing your spine.

But,

Know not to wait, For

I am through singing…

"Oh, distance,

Where are you now…

Oh, Flyer,

Come fly back to me…" – No, all that's over.

Spoken:

No, all that's over

All that's over…

My night's here are now unknown

And the space here is filled with just me.

Oh, Raven, the birds are all birds – And,

No, they cannot sing your songs,

But, I'm beginning to love

That I'm beginning to forget the moments we had dear.

I'm no longer waiting on and on and on and on…

But as I whisper, "I Love You,"

I do what they tell me and seal my heart now.

Dear Black Lover, it's become hard now.

Because I still believe,

Because I still feel the wind

Of your wings and your words.

So, Distance, Black Lover, Past Lover,

You must know that I'm out now,

That I'm done singing for you.

And now that we're over,

I am forever.

I am screaming for me.

I am screaming for me.

So just a quick update (since we haven't posted one on here forever), we are currently demoing tracks for our new EP at Slag Studios in Reading, PA with our pal Bryan (www.myspace.com/slagstudios).  We hope to have this all done sometime soon and we'll post a few fun tracks on our site for you all to hear!

Then we've got some shows and we should be entering Century Studio in Lancaster sometime in August to record the EP.  We'll have more news very soon as far as the release of the album.

Please welcome Christian Cox to the Last Day Dying family.  Christian has been a long time friend of the band who has filled in our bass in the past for us.  You local people might know Christian from Dare I Say and Forever Came Crashing (both great bands and friends to us).  We are all very excited to have this sexy kid a part of the band. 
Keep an eye out for us to return to shows in December and January.  Thanks for all of your support!!

What we've been up to:

Mark and Conor both got a hair cut.
Conor and Ken both upgraded some equipment.
Ken got the CD Layout done.
Matt has a new friend.
Ross is moving into a new place.
The CD is at Disc Makers getting pressed.

Today's setlist:

Warm-up/New material & ideas.
Intro/Martyr
Snapshot
Tramp
Kiss or Stop Breathing
Christopher's Evidence

Good Practice.

Thats about it....

-Ken