Connect with us

Album Review

Every Time I Die – ‘Radical’ [Album Review]

Buffalo punks Every Time I Die return with ‘Radical’, their most potent collection of songs to date. Read our review here.

Published

on

Even at a colossal sixteen tracks long, there are very few moments on Radical where Buffalo punks Every Time I Die take their foot off the pedal. Not a chance. Yes, there are moments throughout the album where the tempo shifts, we’ll get into those later but, for the most part, Radical is just Keith Buckley and Co. at their most lethal.

A screech of feedback gives way to Buckley roaring “Spare only the ones I love. Slay the rest.” and the tone is set. A hulking great slab of metallic hardcore with a massive groove, it’s a potent opener from the band but, as the album careers into the raging “Sly” where Buckley screams “I haven’t even peaked yet,” you know they’re only just getting warmed up. It continues with the corrosive “Planet Shit,” the trashy grind of “Post-Boredom” and the seething chaos of “Colossal Wreck.”

With tracks like the aforementioned “Planet Shit” and the blunt-as-fuck message Buckley howls through “Desperate Pleasures,” Radical sees Every Time I Die hammering home Buckley’s honest approach to the subject matter with suitably devastating force. Thankfully, after seven tracks of utter mayhem, the band applies the brakes taking a less in-your-face approach for the rockier “Thing With Feathers.” Be warned though, it’s only the briefest of respite as they follow it up with the chaotic stomp of “Hostile Architecture” and “AWOL.”

“The Whip” is two and a half minutes of riotous hardcore, with Buckley unloading both barrels at anyone in the vicinity. In contrast, “White Void” is still pummelled home hard but done through that hazy, stoner rock groove that ETID slide into so effortlessly with Buckley again really showcasing the range of his voice. Whether he’s unleashing corrosive howls or making use of cleaner grunge/stoner tones, the frontman puts in the kind of shift that puts other vocalists to shame.

Nearing the end of the album, “Distress Rehearsal” comes close to taking your head off as, without warning, the Buffalo hardcore band finds an extra ounce of venom for this three-minute rager. Record closer “We Go Together” wails into life with Buckley pondering his existence over a filthy guitar sound. Of course, it quickly bleeds into that soundtrack of metallic hardcore, stoner groove, punk attitude mixed up with the full range of Buckley’s vocal armoury bringing the brutal Radical to the devastating conclusion that it demands.

Radical Track Listing:

1. Dark Distance
2. Sly
3. Planet Shit
4. Post-Boredom
5. Colossal Wreck
6. Desperate Pleasures
7. All This And War
8. Thing With Feathers
9. Hostile Architecture
10. AWOL
11. The Whip
12. White Void
13. Distress Rehearsal
14. sexsexsex
15. People Verses
16. We Go Together

Run Time: 48:19
Release Date: October 22, 2021
Record Label: Epitaph Records

I have an unhealthy obsession with bad horror movies, the song Wanted Dead Or Alive and crap British game shows. I do this not because of the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle it affords me but more because it gives me an excuse to listen to bands that sound like hippos mating.

Trending