Every Time I Die - Gutter Phenomenon (2005)

If this album is, as the press materials insist, a "party friendly free for all," then there something seriously wrong with parties these days. That's not to say that the music isn't impressive, just that it's hard to imagine chatting up a girl or laughing with friends while this album is playing anywhere in the vicinity. Every Time I Die prominently features groove based Southern rock elements in its arrangements, but that's about where the fun ends: occasional (and brief) sung melodies arise now and then, but for the most part this is a straight ahead exercise in hoarse screaming and dirty, bludgeoning guitars. Gutter Phenomenon opens with one of the album's strongest tracks, a blistering Math Hardcore raveup titled "Apocalypse Now and Then" (they have a thing for cute titles; another song on this set is titled "Guitarred and Feathered"). "Kill the Music" is a bit more generic in its tight heaviosity, and "Bored Stiff" comes across as just a bunch of yelling for the sake of yelling. But "Champing at the Bit" actually exposes something approaching a pop sensibility lurking beneath the band's bristling aggression, and "Pretty Dirty" features nifty stop, start rhythms and some sustained examples of actual singing. Overall, not bad.

Band: Every Time I Die
Album: Gutter Phenomenon
Genre: Alternative/Screamo/Hardcore-Punk
Country: Buffalo, New York, United States
Label: Ferret Records
Year: 2005

"Tracklist"

01. "Apocalypse Now and Then"
02. "Kill the Music"
03. "Bored Stiff"
04. "Easy Tiger"
05. "Tusk and Temper"
06. "The New Black"
07. "Champing at the Bit"
08. "Gloom and How It Gets That Way"
09. "Guitarred and Feathered"
10. "L 'Astronaut"
11. "Pretty Dirty"