Music Review: ‘Hot Damn’

Intelligent, Multifarious Blend of Hardcore Resonates in Every Time I Die’s Latest

By Omar Tanamly (February 10, 2005)

Rating: 

Lately, it seems that for every band, new or old, that is doing something impressive and original, there are legions of others striving to emulate them.  Here is where hardcore quintet Every Time I Die comes in.  Not to say that aspects about the band and their music aren’t comparable to other worthwhile groups, but it’s safe to say that ETID are in a world of their own.  For with traces of Dillinger Escape Plan-esque grindcore lunacy and the unabashed ferocity of the Bronx, Every Time I Die are busy making music dangerous again, inch by earsplitting inch.

Something I can appreciate about music is when amidt moments of brash aural assault, one is able to detect undeniable traces of unparalleled style, be it via compelling lyrics, rapid-fire riffs, or guttural bass.  What makes “Hot Damn” such a monumental release is that Every Time I Die has all of these, making an almost unclassifiable effort completely worthwhile.  The boys from Buffalo have much to attribute to their un-mirrored intensity as on their latest release they bring together the best of world of metal, hardcore, grindcore, and straight-up rock.  A massive, sonic maelstrom, “Hot Damn” is at once the hardest thing you’ve heard in a while, while somehow not being exaggerated. As if tearing through your every expectation, the CD erupts into the album’s opener, “Romeo A Go-Go” and upon first listen, I sat immobile as I experienced for the first time the rush I get when the CD commences its audio Armageddon.

As if diving headfirst into a fiery, subterranean battle, the twin attack of Every Time I Die’s guitar tag-team duo weave a furious web of explosive, dynamic riffs and thunderous chords through each of the 11 tracks.  Packed with moments of sonic chaos and splintering, multilayered precision, the guitars on “Hot Damn” incorporate awesome, abrupt time-changes, countered nicely by the disc’s solid drumming.  Also, there is something about the tone which the guitars and bass adopt that makes much of the disc sound sort of frenzied but still immensely calculated.  The riffs the songs are constructed around come and go quickly, each replaced by one equally unpredictable and violent.  For indeed, as on the album’s third song, “I Been Gone a Long Time,” singer Keith Buckley growls “balance is a minor setback,” but ETID still make it work, with remarkable novelty and force.

The vocals are also something worth noting as on “Hot Damn” Buckley shows that he is both a master of the pen and the deep-throated growl, another of hardcore’s trademarks.  His voice is gruff but not straining; he snarls from the bottom of his chest, never, it seems, losing a pint of force or passion.  His lyrics range from topics of drinking, murder, backwards love, anything you like, all crafted in an arcane, almost impenetrable manner.  From the elaborate to the humiliating to the disgusting to the openly satirical and hilarious, Buckley takes the stereotype of brutish lyrics for harder music and rakes it apart, with lines like “We've abandoned all semblance of presence/Dead bolted, buckled in/Keeping our word to the sinking ship/Let the rats orchestrate the new mutiny/ I'll meet you overboard.”  At times almost poetic, I for one would not be opposed to nominating Buckley as one of music’s most interesting and compelling vocalists, a task which would be easier if his band’s music wasn’t so hard to categorize.

I’ll be honest, I bought “Hot Damn” on something of a whim late last year, and upon first listen I was only decently impressed.  It seemed intense, no doubt about it, but something about it didn’t click and I can understand that now.  Their music definitely takes some getting used to; it is not very welcoming in the sense that it is viciously uncompromising, but still easy to appreciate.  For whatever reason, I picked the CD out of my case last week to pop it in for another listen and I was, as I’m sure you can tell, pleasantly surprised.  “Hot Damn” has an awesome energy to it and packs the most brazen of punches.  But still, it offers something for almost everyone into bands from Killswitch Engage to As I Lay Dying to the Bronx to the Blood Brothers, and it certainly rounds out my collection nicely.  Really, the bare reality that Every Time I Die is alive and well is comforting, even though their music, at first listen, may not be.