Every Time I Die's third album "Gutter Phenomenon" is a beer-swilling rock and roll album as much in the vein of The Black Crows and ZZ Top as metalcore acts Norma Jean and Fear Before the March of Flames. While one could hardly call it experimental, it mixes the conventions of the southern rock, metalcore and even pop-rock genres in a new and different way that keeps ETID in its own narrow category.
ETID front man - and UB grad - Keith Buckley approaches his indulgent rants on his self-described erotic destruction theme in different but equally evocative ways.
"She stirs/ and I'm emasculated." "There's a heart-shaped bed in the honeymoon ward." "Twitches and vomits in fits like the damned." "Goddamn it, commander, she's a hopeless case." Those lines come within 90 seconds of each other on "Easy Tiger."
He bottoms out a couple times with lines like, "We don't dance ... we got class," but the remainder of the writing renders such miscues negligible. Lyrically, Buckley is as intelligent and artful as any writer around, but that doesn't stop him from penning the rallying cry, "F*** yeah, we're gonna party tonight." As he says in the same song, "Guitarred and Feathered," "Not everything is poetry."
Musically, the album is ETID's least artistically inclined to date. There is no instrumental track like on "Last Night in Town" and "Hot Damn!" The guitar lines are more straightforward, less frenetically paced. The southern rock, single-string melodies emphasized on "Hot Damn!" are even more prominent on "Gutter Phenomenon." There are even a few brief but well-placed guitar solos.
Machine, who produced for Lamb of God and Clutch, provided potent production that allows the "Gutter Phenomenon" finales to be more finalizing, choruses to be catchier and every guitar line nuance is readily audible. Song arrangements have fewer loose ends. They are more cohesive, or, as they say, tight.
Whereas "Hot Damn!" had four great tracks, four good ones and a couple skippers, "Gutter Phenomenon" has five or six great tracks, four good ones and a couple skippers. Fans satisfied with the direction the band was heading with "Hot Damn!" will appreciate the new album. Those who longed for the technical proficiency of "Last Night in Town" will find even less of it on "Gutter."
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
