Every Time I Die: Radical | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- What happens when an author, a bass player, a graphic artist, a goose, and a pro-wrestler walk into a bar? Honestly, Every Time I Die’s extra-curricular activities have made the members sound like the set up to a bad punchline your dad would tell after consuming a few glass pies. Between an already chockas discography and countless tour and studio diaries, you could consume a full twenty-four hours of the quintet’s content with more to keep you going. Now they have added another contribution in the guise of Radical; a guise that ushers in sixteen tracks of unparalleled metalcore from a crew who have kept Buffalo in the mind of many people before Josh Allen rolled into town.

To cut through a lot of fluffy, Every Time I Die are now reaching levels of ironclad recording, akin to Bolt Thrower. I know it’s a stretch but here us out, would ya? Not every song needs to be a game changer rager because even at a baseline level, their songs are leagues above their contemporaries. In saying that, this record didn’t need to go as hard as it did. Dark Distance booms into glory with everything you need to know about this record. It blasts through in brawny entirety piercing the hole Keith Buckley’s voice initiates. Chaos evaporates just after the two minute mark into a bass line that rumbles filth. Then, we’re back at the music’s mercy as it dives, lurches and pounds away. We then build on this thanks to Sly. Inducing some more tangible song structure by a climbing chorus and a whiff of a consistent hook. Another hook follows and makes up the meat of Post-Boredom. It's a hook so sweary that Danhausen would be mortified and all packaged up with bouncy riffs in tandem with Buckley’s strained declamations.

Outright thrashing is changed for mood and gravitas during the open moments of Desperate Pleasures as vocals layer on top of each other to create a disorientating whirl before things explode back to normal. That mood is something that’s expanded upon when we get to Thing With Feathers. Like shit the bed lads, there’s not a distorted guitar until over a minute and a half in. The duelling clean vocals, a talent of this band that’s occasionally overlooked, meld well, with immaculate chemistry. AWOL was one of our earliest tastes for Radical and, much like the band itself, has only improved with age. From a swaggering herald, it grows into all instrumentals pinging off each other with reckless abandon. Things only slow down when they break down. The best breakdown is as brief as it is exhilarating as screeching guitars stop short and ample cues for those in attendance to start picking up change.

It may feel like I glossed over a few songs here, but with a massive sixteen of the suckers, that’s a by-product of the heft, I suppose. Every Time I Die’s penchant for perfect punishment keeps on keeping on, solidifying their place at the table ever more. When a band could rest on their laurels and only play the hits, you can’t begrudge them for that. When the hits keep coming, you’re impressed. When there’s nothing but hits, you gotta stand back in awe because there’s truly something there you will rarely find.

- Matt Lynch.