IN REVIEW: Every Time I Die - "From Parts Unknown"

Over the course of their career, Every Time I Die have managed to (at least to an extent) have it both ways; they've enjoyed a more or less consistent fan base while exercising the freedom to explore new sounds and moods with their music. Maybe this is because, for the most part, even their most experimental songs have the same DNA at their core (no pun intended). As far out as they travel, home has always been the cozy confines of spastic, Converge-like metalcore. It should come as no surprise, then, that From Parts Unknown is the most they've sounded like themselves in a while considering the co-production of Converge's Kurt Ballou.

Indeed, From Parts Unknown brings the menace early and often. A fleeting, sinister dozen seconds open The Great Secret before the song explodes with "blow your fucking brains out" being the first words uttered by lead singer/screamer Keith Buckley amongst slashing guitars and jackhammer drums. It's a quick outburst that's followed by several dynamic shifts in tempo and tone throughout the track while never really lifting boot from throat. There is a lot of thrashing to be had on this album, from the deadly speed of Pelican of the Desert and All Structures Are Unstable to the pummeling technical attacks of Overstayer, Exometrium, Thirst and If There Is Room To Move, Things Move, which would be the most furiously punishing thing on the album if they didn't absolutely reduce it to rubble and ashes on absolutely monstrous closer Idiot.

Then, there's the slightly less murderous but no less punchy tendencies of lead single Decayin' With the Boys, a driving and slightly melodic track with some groove that likely pegged it the single by default. However, the only choice for follow-up single is Old Light, a riff happy rager that features a huge chorus guest shot by Gaslight Anthem frontman Brian Fallon. It's sure to rub some old school fans the wrong way, but as a fan of both bands it's really thrilling to hear the two disparate styles co-exist on a single track.

It wouldn't be an ETID album without at least one out-of-nowhere shocking left turn, and it comes in the form of Moor. For nearly a minute and a half, it simply plods along on a clean vocal, stabbing piano and eerie atmospherics. What it amounts to, ultimately, is a tentative footing on shaky ground, a tiny island in a sea of distortion; soon enough, you're swallowed by the noise again, a particularly surly drop-A guitar tuning and especially pained vocal performance by Buckley.

From Parts Unknown won't define the career of Every Time I Die; most longtime fans will point to their earlier, hungrier sounding work, and newcomers will potentially be put off by its relentless ferocity. That said, it's a hell of a progress report, an album that serves to remind us just how good they've gotten at their craft. Impressive in its execution and as intelligent as it is incendiary, From Parts Unknown is the work of a band that's mastered the fine art of destruction.

July 1, 2014 • Epitaph

Highlights If There Is Room to Move, Things Move • Moor • Old Light

Year in Rock 2025

Alright, I've got some explaining to do. By now anyone who's visited this blog is well aware of how infrequently I've used this space in recent years; aside from the occasional fertile year of content, I really haven't posted all that often over the last five years or so. There are many reasons for this, which have already been outlined in previous apology posts; but, essentially, it boils down to my own laziness and the cold reality that blogs are, like Refused (again), fucking dead. So, I wouldn't hold my breath for a triumphant return to reviews, or even semi-regular posts, but: a) I feel like Year in Rock posts have always belonged here and, even though I've experimented with different methods of presentation recently and been satisfied, the "blink and you missed it" unveiling via Facebook stories this year was perhaps ultimately a disservice to the records I lauded. After all, cramming the list into short videos isn't too far off from ju...

Year in Rock 2011 Nominee: Sam Roberts Band

SAM ROBERTS BAND I Feel You From: Collider Released: May 10 Having already endured the breakout success ( Brother Down was Canada's it rock song of 2002), the tentative dabbling in the U.S. market, as is the rite of passage for all moderately successful Canuck artists (2003's debut We Were Born in a Flame was the best time to try; one of the best albums of the year, it made a small dent in the American mindset upon its release there a year later), the difficult, druggy third album (the aptly named 2005 disc Chemical City ), and the subdued creative step backward (2008's Love at the End of the World , aside from hit single Them Kids , was really kinda bland), it seems according to script that Sam Roberts would start settling in on his fourth album (and first with the band credited as equal contributors), Collider (you know, I think it was a bad idea to give me brackets). Well, as far as settling in goes, Roberts does and doesn't on Collider . W...

IN REVIEW: Rancid - "Trouble Maker"

As far as punk rock goes, it's hard to name a hotter hot streak than the trio of records Rancid cranked out between 1995 and 2000; the star making ...And Out Come the Wolves , the far-reaching Life Won't Wait and their balls-to-the-wall second self-titled album solidly positioned Rancid as leaders of the second generation of punk. It also preceded a period of slow progression, as Rancid would take eleven years to release their next three records. By the time ...Honor Is All We Know came in 2014, many fans (myself included) had to wonder whether or not this was the end of the road. Such concerns are handily dealt with on the closing track of the standard edition of their ninth record, the positively punishing This Is Not the End . Well, okay then, that's sorted. Now, what of this new record? What do we make of the use of their original logo on the cover, a logo that hasn't graced a Rancid record in 25 years? Is this a throwback to the band's heyday, a new begin...

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