Stream and purchase The Auger here.

Released November 24th, 2023

Back in March of 2022, Day Job caught me completely off guard with their debut release, Be a Friend, Make a Friend. I have known Kevin, bass, for a while, and I expected Day Job to more closely resemble his other projects, down tempo and a bit brooding. I was not prepared for the fifteen minutes of aggressive, driving noise rock that greeted my ears. Be a Friend, Make a Friend became a key part of the soundtrack to my spring, as it was conveniently the exact length of the drive to my band’s practice space.

Fast forward to December of 2023, and Day Job surprised me once again. In the hectic time immediately preceding the birth of our daughter, I must have missed the email about the release of The Auger. I stumbled upon it while browsing Bandcamp one day, and I jumped right in. This time, instead of a fifteen minute punch in the mouth, I found Day Job had put out a dynamic full-length that expanded the immediacy of Be a Friend, Make a Friend into a fully formed aesthetic.

In terms of album craft, Day Job knocked it out of the park starting with “Simple Machine,” which sets the tone for the record with its muscular opening riff. Hallmarks immediately show themselves on this first track, including what I would consider the band’s trademark, barked vocals over a mid tempo unison riff, carefully deconstructed and reconstructed for dramatic effect. Aesthetically, Day Job is paying obvious homages to 90s noise rock and post-hardcore, a fact immediately apparent when the second track, “Post Collapse,” drops in. Opening with a riff reminiscent of something between Unwound and Karate before kicking into one of the aforementioned unison riffs and ultimately sliding into a sparse anti-chorus, the dynamics of Day Job are on full display.

“Slow Crawl” and “Medicine” feel like companion tracks, with “Medicine” being, to my taste, one of the strongest tracks on the record. Day Job’s commitment to sparse arrangements, which allows the bass to do most of the heavy lifting in terms of riffs and harmony, both showcases the rhythm section and allows the guitar to weave in and out with melodic passages, build tension with noise, and drop out altogether for dramatic effect. “Hour Back” feels like the conclusion of this block of the record, and it delivers one of the nastiest riffs on The Auger.

“Spire Song” feels like the appropriate soundtrack for a world that set yet another heat record caused by industrialized exploitation of both our planet and workers, a post-apocalyptic blues that churns like the titular auger through two and half minutes of despair. Jake’s loping percussion keeps the track from getting mired in the muck, and the fills over the outro give the anthemic ending movement. The video for the track, embedded above, reinforces the 90s aesthetic with its tape footage, dated b-roll, and use of CRT TVs.

The back third of the record, kicked off by “Dead Crop,” sees Day Job departing the furthest from the album’s norm. “Iron Tree” opens with a blistering guitar riff, a perfectly timed stylistic departure from the unison riffs throughout the record, and “Decades” finds Day Job at their most subdued, content to progress more reflectively through the verses without the immediacy or aggression of the rest of the album. The closer, “Brothers,” brings the metaphorical train back into the station, pummeling the listener with driving verses and filthy unison riffs, complete with a controlled collapse of the tempo to close.

Many bands take time to find their footing, but Day Job is in a hurry. Just 20 months after the release of Be a Friend, Make a Friend, Day Job has both refined and improved upon their form with The Auger, landing on an aesthetic so clearly defined you would think the band had been churning through the muck for over a decade. I highly recommend The Auger to almost anyone that enjoys heavy music.

Stream and purchase The Auger on Bandcamp.

For Fans of: Riffs, filthy bass, noise

Perfect for: Crushing a sixer outside a DIY space

Favorite Track: “Medicine”

Rating: 9/10