One Day All This Will End

Svalbard was formed in 2011 in Bristol, England. In the three years following their formation, the band would record three EPs, with their line-up being held constant through several line-up changes by lead vocalist and guitarist Serena Cherry, co-lead vocalist Liam Phelan and drummer Mark Lilley.[3] In early 2014, Svalbard began writing material for their debut album at their practice space.[4] Cherry wrote all of the lyrics for One Day All This Will End herself, whilst its music was collaboratively worked on between her, Phelan and Lilley as the band did not have a bassist at the time.[4][5]

Cherry said that the songs on One Day All This Will End went "through a really arduous, meticulous process of structuring", where Svalbard would "[try] to find the best way to get from A to B to C and to give a riff the most impact".[4] Songs were discarded if the band were unable to unanimously agree on them or if they were too clunky, a process that often led to conflict between members.[4][5] Ultimately, the band would discard 75% of the material they wrote for the album.[4] "The Damage Done", originally featured on Svalbard's self-titled debut EP in 2012, was re-recorded for the album as it had been a fixture of their live setlists and because the band felt its themes were still relevant.[6]

In the midst of writing the album, Svalbard were signed to the independent label Holy Roar Records in January 2015 by Pariso guitarist and label head Alex Fitzpatrick.[7][8] Svalbard and Pariso had previously worked together on a split EP, released in June 2014.[9][10] Afterwards, One Day All This Will End was recorded "in bite-size chunks" between March and April 2015 at The Ranch Production House with producer Lewis Johns, who also produced the Pariso / Svalbard split EP.[6][11] Cherry felt that recording the album was "a really comfortable experience", and that Johns had a better idea of how to capture Svalbard's reverb-heavy sound in the studio due to his previous experience working with the band.[6] The album was mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege Mastering in May 2015.[11] That same month, Svalbard embarked on a tour of Europe with We Never Learned to Live.[12][13]

One Day All This Will End is a post-hardcore album that critics have described as drawing from post-rock, crust punk and black metal.[12][14][15] The album features atmospheric, melodic and intense compositions,[16] heavy use of reverb effects,[14] vocal interplay between Cherry and Phelan,[15] and clean-sounding production.[17] The album's final track, "Lily", is a post-rock instrumental.[17] Cherry associated its "optimistic and hopeful" melodies to her cat, the titular Lily, who she rescued from abandonment.[18]

"Perspective" criticizes "the myth that you need to appear to be upset to appear to have conviction", and the "strange association between integrity and misery" in music.[18] "Disparity" draws upon Erving Goffman's ideas about impression management to discuss the gap between "the self within and the preferred self", in reality and on social media.[18] "The Vanishing Point" is about Svalbard's ex-bandmembers, and the disappointment stemming from the band's numerous line-up changes.[4][18] "Expect Equal Respect" discusses sexism in music, and how the term "female-fronted" reduces musicians to the novelty of their gender instead of focusing on or judging them for their abilities.[16][18] The song was written as a reaction to an question from an email interview with a blog, asking Cherry if she thought that Svalbard's status as a "female fronted" band in the hardcore scene was "a hindrance or a setback".[6] "Unrequited" is about "weakness and regret", and "The kind of words where you never know if they would have been better left unsaid".[18] "The Damage Done" discusses the "genome lag" between humanity's primitive instincts and ever-progressing lifestyles.[6][18] According to Cherry, "Unnatural Light" describes social media as a "new opium of the people", in the sense that it provides the illusion of action against injustices in the world: "There’s nothing more silencing than feeling you’re being heard. Facebook creates an illusion of an audience, for people to rant and rave at each other. All their anger gets safely contained within a digital dead-end. It’s a debilitating outlet."[6][12][18]

One Day All This Will End was released through Holy Roar Records on 25 September 2015.[19][20] The album's release was handled by Halo of Flies Records in the United States, and by Through Love Records in Germany.[2] The album's first pressing through Holy Roar (limited to 1000 CDs and 495 vinyl LPs)[19] reportedly sold out within the first week of its release.[12][21] Speaking with Punktastic in April 2016, Fitzpatrick said that the response to the album was "amazing for what [it] is, for all intents and purposes [...] for that record to be recognised by so many non-heavy music people has been a real validation of songwriting and creativity without looking at those boundaries."[21] In April 2022, it was reissued through Church Road Records.[22] In June 2022, Nuclear Blast Records acquired the worldwide rights to the album after Svalbard signed to the label.[23]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Drowned in Sound	7/10[17]
Metal.de	7/10[14]
Metal Hammer	[15]
Ox-Fanzine	[24]
Terrorizer	9/10[25]

One Day All This Will End was well-received by critics. Drowned in Sound's Benjamin Bland commented that although Svalbard's post-hardcore sound was "archetypal", the album's production and musical "nods to the purely visceral nature of hardcore at its best" separated the band from many of their stylistic contemporaries.[17] Nik Young of Metal Hammer similarly praised its cohesive sound and Svalbard's ability to "morph opposing styles together to craft something fresh" without "being gratingly artistic".[15]

Martin Schmidt of Ox-Fanzine praised the "consistent and always entertaining" blend of genres throughout the album, and for "always being able to touch and equally destroy and build with its emotional power."[24] Writing for Metal.de, Herr Møller positively noted the album's "emotional" and "very haunting" delivery, particularly in regards to its vocals, but found its later tracks weak.[14]

One Day All This Will End placed at number 45 on Metal Hammer's year-end "Albums of 2015" list.[26]

All lyrics are written by Serena Cherry; all music is composed by Svalbard.[11]

Personnel per liner notes.[11][27]

• One Day All This Will End on YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)
• One Day All This Will End on Bandcamp