Chances are, there is probably a Dayseeker song out there for you, you just don’t realize it yet. The band has made a name for themselves hitting fans right in the feels with a combination of soulful singing, poignant lyrics and, of course, banging riffs. With their latest release, Creature in the Black Night , the band somewhat drifts away from their more emotional subject matter in lieu of a more narrative driven approach. However, they also hone in on their most perfected sound to date for an album experience that will surely make plenty of “Best of” lists at the end of 2025. In celebration of the release of the new album, I spoke with vocalist Rory Rodriguez about the new direction of this album, their recent visit to Crunchyroll HQ, and how much their fanbase LOVES anime. How are you feeling now that the album is out? Rory Rodriguez : I’m feeling good about it, yeah. Excited, nervous, kind of a different sound for our band, so I'm hoping people like it as much as we enjoyed making it. How did you go about, kind of, creating that different sound? Rodriguez : I think our older music was always super melancholy and really sad. This time, I wrote a few songs that were getting into this more horror, eerie, spooky vibe, and by the time we got halfway through the record, it just felt like there was a theme and a picture being painted, so when we finished the record, earlier this year, we just leaned into it. The whole record is more rooted in horror themes, monsters, cemeteries, anything kind of Halloween-related, I guess I'd say. So, it's fitting it comes out in October, I guess. Also fitting that you’ve been on tour with Ice Nine Kills as well! Rodriguez : I guess that does make sense, huh? Did you grow up with anime? How did you first get into it or interested in it? Rodriguez : You know what the funny thing is? The other guys in the band are way more into anime than I am, honestly. They speak really highly of JUJUTSU KAISEN and Chainsaw Man and all that stuff. I do like it though, it’s just that I feel like the closest I got and when I had the most time for it was when I was a kid. I would watch Pokémon , or Digimon , and Dragon Ball Z . I got so wrapped up in the band thing that I forgot about watching TV. Have you noticed that fans of your band are also fans of anime as well? The band aesthetic really lends itself to the anime style. Rodriguez : Yeah, 100 percent. Again,I know, Ramone's a big fan of a lot of different anime, and a few years ago, we just kind of started incorporating that more into our merch designs. It's nice to have a variety when you're on tour, and yeah, we just had one that was a girl who looks like she's from an anime and with our band name in Japanese and people absolutely loved it. We've kind of leaned into it, and people seem to enjoy it. It's funny you mention that, because we do a VIP a lot of times when we headline, “What is your favorite anime?” is the top question we get asked. There's a crossover there for sure. People have even been trying to figure out which anime the girl character we made for our merch is from! Then they end up finding out it's a band and they check us out. Have you seen fans making anime edits with your music? Rodriguez : I’ve definitely seen that on YouTube. They do these slowed, reverb versions of our songs where they stretch it out and drop the key a little bit. It's funny, I always notice, for whatever reason, whether it's slowed down, or there's sped-up versions, too. The background is always some moving image from an anime. Why do you think the fans of anime and heavy music overlap so much? Rodriguez : I really wish that I had some idea, I don't know if the themes in anime line up with the music too well but there is something about it that feels right about it. I think the first time I saw our song in an AMV I was like, “It's kind of random!” It's just a picture of some character from an anime just on a cliff and the wind starts blowing as soon as our song's playing in the background. I didn't understand it at first, and now the longer it sits, I'm like it really fits together, I'm not sure why, but it does. We were glad to host you and the band at the office a while back! Was there anything about the localization and dubbing process that surprised you? Rodriguez : I think I was surprised by how similar it seemed to be to our process of making a record, which was interesting. We get a lot more room to play whereas we saw how much work is done by your teams to make sure everything matches the experience from Japan. Sometimes there are weird patterns when tracking vocals, like rhythmically, and I'll have a hard time nailing the exact timing, and as long as I get kind of close, my engineer can morph and adjust to work. I can’t imagine doing something like that for an entire episode so it’s cool to see how much effort goes into matching the mouth movements and timing. Plus the actors have to nail the emotion of it. It was really cool to see. Your lyrics and the songs are super cinematic and tell such stories. What would you think a Dayseeker anime would look like, given your proclivity for, like, spilling your heart out and also telling stories with the songs you're writing? Rodriguez : I'd say, at least for our new album, we have this Reaper character who is the centerpiece of our artwork. It would definitely involve that Grim Reaper in particular. It would have to feature some of the more vibey songs like “Creatures in the Black Night," "Pale Moonlight," and probably a dark aesthetic and setting, probably taking place somewhere in a cemetery with zombies walking around. If you listen to the record, I think that's, like, the aesthetic that you'll feel in your mind. What has been on your watchlist lately? Rodriguez : Chainsaw Man comes up a ton in our camp. JUJUTSU KAISEN and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba too. We end up talking about those and watching them. We have a longer flight coming up to Australia and I’m definitely going to download some of the ones I’ve missed before that I need to see, like Fullmetal Alchemist and see where I end up. Anime is definitely starting to get its hooks more into me. What are you most excited for fans to hear on the record that may not have come out in the singles? Rodriguez : There's a song called “Cemetery Blues” that I'm excited for people to hear. It’s a really slow piano song that I wrote in the living room of my house. When I brought it to our producer, I was like, oh, maybe it'll be a Sleep Token thing, where it's a piano ballad, and then the band just kind of comes in out of nowhere. When I went to sit down with him, we decided to try some hyperpop drum beat over it and then we got really kind of deep into the production. The first half ends up feeling like a melancholy Postal Service song, and then the back half is riffy and heavy and metal-y, and it's just a very sort of strange track on the album. It definitely takes you on a journey. Do you have anything to say to Crunchyroll readers who may not have heard Dayseeker before? Rodriguez : Now what I usually say is our band is a sad rock band, and so, if you are depressed, or if you're going through a breakup, or if somebody has passed away, we are definitely a good band for you. I think we offer a lot of relatability and a lot of comfort to people who are going through dark times in their life. And our aesthetic fits the anime style perfectly! Listen to Creature in the Black Night here . Follow Dayseeker here .
