DAYDREAM – Reaching for eternity LP

“Reaching For Eternity,” the third album from Portland, OR band Daydream, was released alongside Black Water and Sabotage, and it’s an understatement to say that this latest offering transcends the boundaries of the average punk record. In every sense, this is a hardcore punk record through and through, but there are plenty of pop and art elements that lend these 12 tracks a quality that requires multiple listens to fully grasp the depth of what this record has to offer. Very clever lyrics, sensitively screamed over top-notch music, are reminiscent of more modern groups like Crazy Spirit, Strawberry Man Army, or Poison Ruin, mixed with Flux of Pink Indians, Discharge, and the entire Dischord Records catalog (at least from Void to Fugazi). These songs are as harsh as they are beautiful. Uneasy as they are comforting. They defy the genre without sounding contrived or cheesy. All in all, this is one of the better, more creative punk records of 2023