August 14, 2001 - Last Night In Town

Three weeks since my last release and just under a year since their debut EP "The Burial Plot Bidding War", Every Time I Die released their first album "Last Night In Town" on August 14, 2001. Original bassist John McCarthy is no longer with the band and he is replaced by Aaron Ratajczak. ETID have also signed to a major label and their new producer is actually Adam Dutkiewicz, the drummer for Killswitch Engage! That's pretty sweet and with Adam D. now in in the fold ETID are even heavier and more polished than their EP. Let's check out their first full album!

The album kicks off with "Emergency Broadcast Syndrome" and it's got some nice slow, chugging guitars by Andrew William's and Jordan Buckley. There's some solid bass as well and lots of high yelling/screaming by Keith Buckley. A nice heavy way to kick things off and the end leads right into "Jimmy Tango's Method" which has lots of great guitars from both guitarists and some solid screaming overtop. They quiet it down for a very cool part that sounds great and breaks ups the heaviness, then slam nicely back into the heavy main riff. Everything sounded pretty hardcore and awesome to me! Track 3 is "Here's Lookin' At You" and they go right into a crazy fast and wicked main riff with both guitarists playing some more great stuff. The rhythm section is fast and tight to match and Keith's screaming overtop completes a pretty sweet headbanger of a main riff! After a couple minutes they slow things right down and Keith sings in a high voice overtop some slow and heavy guitars in an interesting part for sure! Then they speed things up with some great fast and high guitar to finish off this pretty cool tune. The next track is called "Punch-Drunk Punk Rock Romance" and words don't do proper justice when I say it's another sweet and heavy main riff with lots if screaming and cool guitars. There are several parts in this song where they nicely break it down and have one of the guitarists or even the bassist show off for a few bars and they're all pretty cool! Keith sings a verse at the end where he holds some long notes and he sounds pretty good, as well as sounding great with his usual screaming. The finish is really well done as well and this was a very complete and awesome metalcore song! Track 5 is "Enter Without Knocking And Notify The Police" and it's a little two minute instrumental with a catchy main guitar riff leading the way. There are some slow, haunting breaks from the main riff that sound epic and then come to a heavy conclusion as they play the same riff, but way way heavier! It's a solid little interlude! Up next is "The Logic Of Crocodiles" and there's some more fast and cool guitars from both guitarists and another heavy and pretty sweet main riff. There's some really heavy and chaotic stuff on this song, words couldn't properly describe the speedy insanity! Nicely done guys! Track 7 is "Pincushion" and it's got a great back-and-forth between super fast and heavy stuff and slowing it down nicely for some epic and heavy parts with Michael Novak playing some pretty good drums throughout. The lead guitar at the end sounds really sweet and they packed a lot of cool stuff into this short song. The next song is "Nothing Dreadful Ever Happens" and it starts typically fast and heavy, but devolves into a very quiet and space-y riff that is very out of place for ETID but interesting enough. They emerge into more typically heavy and cool stuff with some great guitar and bass. The end of the song devolves into feedback and noises and Ratajczak plays a piano riff that slowly takes us to the end of the song in some more unusual but not bad stuff, just really slow and simple compared to most of their stuff. Track 9 is "California, Gracefully" and they go right into another fast and wicked main guitar riff and there's no let-up for this whole short song. So much heavy and cool guitar! Solid screams and solid rhythm section to boot! Another cool tune! The final song on the album is "Shallow Water Blackout" and nothing else at this time sounds quite as extreme as this, it's yet another super heavy and unique and interesting main riff. Things are so fast, but there's so much control in the wicked guitar that works it's way around. They play a fantastic breakdown to finish off the song and album, just another well above average song in the budding genre of metalcore!

That is the end of "Last Night In Town" and I thought it was a pretty sweet first full album from Every Time I Die. These guys tightened up and improved upon their debut EP and produced ten pretty sweet metalcore songs that are among the heaviest you'll hear this year! I can't wait to see them continue to improve!