Buffalo metalcore band Every Time I Die release Low Teens in a personal yet potent collection of tracks taken from the rawness of their own stories. In their eight album release the band bring the noise intensely as ever, though this time with a clearly focused purpose that departs away from their usual tongue-in-cheek affairs. With a candid story fueling the story behind Low Teens, this could be one of their finest moments yet.
Vocalist Keith Buckley pushes forward to defy death itself in opening “Fear and Trembling,” with featured vocalist Tim Singer taking the means a step forward in the “kill to survive.” “Glitches” pummels forward full throttle in quickened frenzy while alluding to the lack of preparation that comes in the wake of unspeakable terrors. Buckley then becomes uncharacteristically personal in “C++” as pleading with machines refers back to struggles in his own familial traumas of life and death.
Compared to previous outings Low Teens feels especially personal, filled with memorable moments amidst the chaos. Southern metal flares of “Two Summers” crunch viciously with Buckley singing decadently the whole way through, as opposed to his usual guttural bellowing. Reminiscent “Awful Lot” looks back to his barbarianism of ‘chasing bended light’ illusions, looking to those same barbarians now in eyes of disdain. “I Didn’t Want To Join Your Stupid Cult Anyway” speaks for itself, moving at breakneck speed in ironic references and subtle jabs at religious loopholes.
Occasional featured guests accentuate the themes sprawling through different tracks on the album. Panic at the Disco’s Brendon Urie provides backup for “It Remembers” as Buckley laments on the mess that he had become from alcoholic woes. “Petal” continues forth intensely from C++ as the blackest of raw emotions unrelentingly come through in every hypothetical possibility. Every Time I Die self-references “The Coin Has a Say” to their beginnings as a band, looking back to the present as decisions are notably affecting their present lives.
The band itself noticeably pushes themselves in songwriting, extending moments out longer to emphasize different messages. Low Teens centerpiece “Religion of Speed” clocks in past 5 minutes, the band’s longest song to date that looks past the gravestone and riotous decisions leading there. “Just As Real But Not As Brightly Lit” gets lost in symbolism, trying to find some purpose left after warring kingdoms have spiraled down towards nothing. The penultimate “1977” hits hard and fast buried in technical proficiency from every corner, exclaiming hallelujah for the end of the story has apparently come.
In closing, “Map Change” extends to some place between forgotten and never seen, giving up in the end in trying to save a situation of what cannot be. On one hand the situation forthcoming from that closing moment could be entirely calamitous for Every Time I Die, though even these metalcore marauders may be looking for a bit of hope in the pits of despair.