Every band hopes that their latest album will be the ‘break-through’. The album that elevates them to the next level and opens up a whole new audience to them: whether it’s taking a band from the unknown to the known or it’s taking an established band and making them superstars. Frankly, these albums and are to come by and not every band is lucky enough to get one.
For Every Time I Die however, they not only hit a new audience and broke out of obscurity, but with Hot Damn! they helped create and define a whole new genre, and they set themselves right on the top of that mountain.
Since the release Every Time I Die have only grown in every aspect; sonically they have continued on the path they started with Hot Damn!, experimenting with the balance of melody and heavy metal, as well as providing thrashing riffage at every given opportunity.
Lyrically Keith Buckley has become so much more poignant and insightful, showcasing and making full use of his advanced education in the English language.
And as a band, they are tighter than ever with each album showing more maturity (in sound at least) along with the obvious gained skill that is sure to come about after a near 15 year career.
Hot Damn! starts off with an explosion in the form of single track “Romeo A Go Go”, a full-on riff thrashing number that doesn’t stop at all during the entire 2 minutes 40 seconds of it.
One of the standout tracks on the entire record, “Romeo…” includes some of Buckley’s best work, he brings something new to the ‘metalcore song’; Buckley brings intelligence and complexity to his lyrics.
Like every song on Hot Damn! the lyrics read more like poetry or a well-crafted short story as opposed to a conventionally written song. Pulling in elements of proper literature language, pop-culture and iconography and even some slang thrown in there too, Buckley shows how in just over a year or so (from previous album ‘Last Night In Town’) he has focused much more on lyrics, and maybe even had more fun and taken them more seriously than he had done on previous recording efforts.
Hot Damn!’s mayhem continues to track 3, “I Been Gone A Long Time”, one of only two tracks to receive the music video treatment, this track again shows Buckley’s golden-touch towards lyrics but moreso showcases the two guitarists; Jordan Buckley (Keith’s younger brother) and Andy Williams.
The song starts off like any other chugging metalcore piece until the chorus hits, and then BANG your hit with multiple different riffs one after another, hit, hit, HIT!
Sure Keith Buckley’s lyrics are a major part of Every Time I Die and what made Hot Damn! such an iconic and incredible record, but without the brute force of Jordan and Andy, without their differing yet complimentary sounds, Hot Damn! wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable as it is.
The skill of Andy and Jordan are showcased through the entire album of course, but some tracks you just can’t fathom just how brutal the sounds are that they are creating; how the fuck can a guitar make such a heavy yet not too heavy sound. Another of these tracks is “Floater”, a song that has become a staple in Every Time I Die’s live arsenal. Possibly the heaviest track on the entire album, yet one of the most tuneful and melodic, “Floater” blends these two elements together perfectly; they take the ferocity of bands associated with heavy metal and such and meld together a musical Frankenstein by adding in the melody of pop music. Sure the music obviously heads further in the direction of the heavier sound, but still, having the poppier aspect was something new at the time, with not very many bands in the genre/scene giving it a go.
Hot Damn! also includes the stunning “In The Event That Everything Should Go Terribly Wrong”, a track that follows in the same vein as “Enter Without Knocking And Notify The Police” (from previous release ‘Last Night In Town’). Using a sound similar to the Deftones, “In The Event…” is a mostly instrumental track that utilises the same sombre, more slower sounding guitars, away with the heaviness and riffage, this song is the listener’s break, a chance for them to catch-up and take-in the insanity that they have just listened to; too bad then that this track is too grabbing and beautiful, so instead of reflecting on the album so far, they are caught up in a song that almost feels like a tale.
The short-story effect that Buckley’s lyrics have in every other song on the album is passed on to the instrumentals for this number. That’s not to say that Buckley’s (few) lyrics for this track aren’t captivating; the short, one sentence that’s recited over and over is one that fits so well with the music as well as being greatly ambiguous, this leaves the listener to make their own connections. The sentence “yourokiwillbei” (as written in the CD inlay booklet) is something that for me personally is simply magnificent, it’s a short statement that says so much in so few words.
The remaining 3 tracks on the album go back to the formula of break-neck speed riffage while keeping a sense of melody.
“Ebolarama” hits the listener over the head, knocking them out of the tamer sounding previous track and straight back into the realm of the punishing heavy-groove. Helping showcase every aspect of Every Time I Die, it’s no surprise that it’s become one of their most popular and well-loved tracks from both the fans but also the bands perspective.
Album closer “Pornogratherapy” is a track that seems to bring everything that the listener has just heard all into one 3 minute rager. It starts off with the fast playing, quite possibly the fastest parts of the entire album appear on this track, then the song takes an immediate dive into the slower tempo and even delves into the mellower nature of “In The Event...” during the chorus, only to smash right back with one last fast verse to close out the song and the entire album.
Well, on some versions it doesn’t close the CD off, added on some import versions were 3 additional tracks; 2 live recordings and a cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “I Used To Love Her”.
The live recordings are sharp and professionally captured, so they are well worth listening and very enjoyable, and help capture how well Every Time I Die sound in a live environment. The two tracks are album opener from previous album “Emergency Broadcast Syndrome” and Hot Damn!’s own “Floater”, two great tracks that are typical of being played (at least at the time) and as stated above, help the listener understand what to expect from any Every Time I Die show.
The cover is something very different; an almost acoustic track originally recorded for Guns N’ Roses tribute album, ‘Bring You To Your Knees... A (Hardcore) Tribute To Guns 'N Roses’. It’s by no means a bad track or cover, heck I love it, but honestly, if you listen to Every Time I Die for their chugging riffs or Keith Buckley’s thought-provoking lyrics, this song might not be on your top 10 list.
I also want to add that the artwork of the album, created by Jacob Bannon of Converge, is so well created and suits the album so well. The main imagery is that of two women kissing, which so helps to convey the idea of decadence and the depravity that Hot Damn! references multiple times in its lyrics (as well as the video for “I Been Gone A Long Time”).
The many different banner type promotional images that were also created are all just spectacular pieces of art in of themselves, but accompanied by this album, both the music and the artwork help bring the most out in each other.
In the end, it’s not hard to see why this album did some much on release and how it will continue to influence for many more years. At the time of release they were on the forefront of a new generation of heavy music, along with Eighteen Visions and Poison The Well, these three bands released incredible albums all within a year that helped shape what would become metalcore as well as every band showing the different approaches a band could take to get that sound.
Now, a decade later only Every Time I Die stand out of these three ‘Godfathers’ of metalcore, and with their latest release ‘Ex-Lives’ it’s easy to see why.
Still now they are able to use aspects of the sound created on Hot Damn!, and build on top of it to further the sound that they pioneered a decade ago.
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