Album Review: Every Time I Die - 'Radical'
Rational thinking is a thing of the past. Let’s get Radical.
The ninth record from Buffalo metalcore outfit Every Time I Die, Radical is one of their most adventurous albums yet. Coming five years after their last release Low Teens, the 16-track epic is the advancement that fans and the band itself needed to keep the scene fresh and keep their own sound on the radar.
A shooting star of a track is ‘Post-Boredom’, one of the more recent singles taken from Radical. After a short string of tunes that tell two-minute stories, ‘Post-Boredom’ comes in as a slight difference to break it up and prepare for the next act of the record. Every album can read and listen like its own novel; and with this, ‘Post-Boredom’ is where the first chapter tapers off and the second builds up.
With a seasoned band such as Every Time I Die, one that’s been on the scene since the late 90s, the sound is exact and fits what they’re going after. With this record coming out 20 years after their debut Last Night In Town, the comparison between the two is major but also minor as it still feels true to them and highlights how they handle metalcore. The shredding feels smooth in the roughest way, and the vocals are passionate without sounding forced - take the latest single ‘Planet Shit’ as a prime example. This is the elite form of ETID, we know it and they know it, and the themes of anger and distress and sickness of the world and its inhabitants have never felt so genuine with the band.
Many acts can take ages to pinpoint who they are and what they want to express to the world, but ETID have had this down for years and have proven just once again that they found their identity as the eternally underground and forever relatable faces of the scene they’re leading in.
Radical doesn’t hold back, doesn’t mask any feelings, doesn’t even try to pretend the world is okay and everyone is perfect - in the best and worst ways - and this is what hits the home run with every cycle. Every Time I Die can’t play subtle, and that’s the greatest decision they could ever make.
When times are tough and the world is shit, it’s time to get Radical.
Words by Jo Cosgrove