Every Time I Die – Low Teens

Every Time I Die have only gone and done it again. Eighteen years since their conception and they’re still the absolute juggernaut that they’ve always been, delivering yet again with album number eight.

‘Low Teens’ opens with a very unnerving riff that carries on throughout the opening track ‘Fear and Trembling’ before Keith Buckley spits the first vocals and the song kicks in. From the offset, it’s clear to see that Every Time I Die are not fucking around with this album and they’re doing what they do best.

The album showcases everything the band can do in a fantastic way. You have the more melodic tracks (even then they’re still very over the top) on the album such as ‘C++ (Love Will Get You Killed)’ with Buckley showing his vocals in another aggressive light, but done in a somewhat melodic way that you’d only expect to find on an ETID album. Then you have ‘Two Summers’ which is more or less a southern rock song with that bouncy, aggressive Every Time I Die twist on it.

For the most part this is a heavy album – would you expect anything less? Songs like ‘Petal’, ‘The Coin Has A Say’ and ‘I Didn’t Want To Join Your Stupid Cult Anyway’ are fast, chaotic and hit you in the face like a ton of bricks, but are always peppered with that clean vocal that makes these songs so great (think ‘Underwater Bimbos From Outer Space’) and they show a lot of emotion in Buckley’s voice with the repetition of lyrics like, “What haven’t I done?/What have I done?” The drums and bass are both essential in giving these hectic songs that extra beefiness, this is particularly noticeable in ‘1977’. It’s also good to see that Every Time I Die are still as groovy as ever too, once the riff of ‘Just As Real But Not As Brightly Lit’ hits you can’t help but just want to move.

When people found out that Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie was going to be featuring on the album, there was a very mixed reaction. One half perplexed and concerned, the other anticipating an amazing result. I was one of the latter. Say what you like about Panic! At The Disco, but there’s absolutely no denying that Brendon Urie is one of the best vocalists about and ‘It Remembers’ proves no exception to that rule. This song is one of the slower ones on the album and starts off with another southern rock riff. Keith Buckley and Brendon Urie make a great duet and it’s amazing how well the guest vocalist’s voice works with the song.

The album closes with ‘Map Change’ which starts off with soaring guitars before we’re met with more aggressive vocals. Towards the end of the track, everything crescendos and begins to get more intense before being stripped back to just a guitar and vocal with the lyrics, “I’ve weighed down the earth/Through the stars to the pavement/I’ve weighed down the earth/No use trying to save it,” echoing as the song fades out. A truly beautiful piece of music that shows that whilst these guys are a band that are fond of their fast, chaotic and heavy songs, they’re still not running out of ideas and are able to produce something different every time (I Die). ‘Low Teens’ is a brilliant addition to their back catalogue and a testament to their consistency as a band.

‘Low Teens’ is out now via Epitaph Records.