time for the Pungent Stench tour. In January 2003, Simon Calabrese was recruited as lead vocalist. Calabrese had previously been with a nu metal act called Redsands that had recorded an EP before disbanding. With Calabrese in place, Daysend immediately found themselves supporting Sweden's The Haunted in March and then on a national tour with the reformed Melbourne grindcore band Damaged. After that, Daysend spent ten days recording the debut album Severance, which was released by Chatterbox in October. Severance was voted Best Australian Metal Album in a Triple J listeners poll soon after, an honour it shared with Renascent Misanthropy by Brisbane black metal band Astriaal. 2004 saw Daysend touring heavily. They supported Slipknot, In Flames, Shadows Fall and Machine Head and toured nationally with Entombed. Severance was released in the United States by Metal Blade Records and by Locomotive in Europe in November. When the Metal for the Brain festival added two extra shows in Brisbane and Perth along with its regular Canberra fixture in February 2005, Daysend appeared at each. Two days before this, however, Kordek suddenly left the band. His replacement was Andrew Lilley, who had most recently served a brief spell with Melbourne thrash band Atomizer. Lilley's addition to Daysend caused some initial surprise as he had been fired from Psi.Kore in mid-2001, then coincidentally joined Infernal Method after Bilbija had left to join Psi.Kore. However, after learning the band's entire set in one emergency rehearsal, he slotted into the Daysend line-up. In May 2005, Daysend toured the US for six weeks with Otep. On returning to Australia, the band split with both its management and with Lilley. Michael Kordek rejoined and some work began on a second album. Further activity was stalled however when Simon Calabrese left Daysend in May 2006. Within a short time, however, ex-Headcage vocalist Mark Halcroft (McKernan) joined the band. Playing just two shows with him, Daysend began recording The Warning in November 2006 with DW Norton, who had also produced the debut. Norton signed the band to his label Faultline and the album was released on 28 May 2007 ahead of Daysend's appearance at Sydney's two-day Come Together Festival. A national tour began soon after but at least one show was cancelled when Morris received an eye injury from a broken drumstick during a show in Sydney on 13 July. In late November 2007, Michael Kordek left the band