If positions on festival bills were given based on a band’s consistency, Every Time I Die would have headlined Download moons ago. The Buffalo outfit are as fiercely beloved in 2021 as they have been across their 23-year career, and part of that is due to the fact they’re yet to release a duff album. They’re looking at making it nine out of nine with Radical, their first in five years and thus representing the longest gap between studio albums to date.
At 51 minutes and 16 tracks, Radical is also the lengthiest Every Time I Die album yet, but they haven’t swerved in a more progressive direction; it feels more that, after half a decade away, the band are merely giving their devoted fanbase more bang for their buck. The first 10 tracks rattle past in less than half an hour, with the punchy Planet Shit and colossal riffs in Desperate Pleasures making them the standouts, the latter helped by Keith Buckley’s shouted refrain of ‘You’ve got an atheist praying for Judgement Day.’
Talking of refrains, the one-liners that are dotted about will, much like on previous efforts, inspire mass singalongs at live shows. ‘Fear is a fetish and I am a masochist’ screams Keith on The Whip – a line that is a mosh call just waiting to happen at live shows and incite chaos across a room. Even when they bring the tempo down slightly, like on White Void, it’s less about throwing shapes than fists and returning the lyrics back with interest.
Nearly a quarter of a century down the line and Every Time I Die are still throwing out punk anthems like they’re a cinch to create; it’s almost unfair on everyone else. Nine albums out of nine? There was never any doubt.
Radical is out October 22 via Epitaph
