The fifth studio album from the Buffalo band, New Junk Aesthetic appeared in 2009 and confirmed the intact vitality of an outfit that refuses to mellow. After several notable records, Every Time I Die could have rested on its achievements. Not a chance: this new work tightens the screws, hardens the guitars and pushes the blend of hardcore and Southern rock toward an even sharper version.
A return to the fangs
Where some earlier records flirted with immediate hooks, this one favors the bite. The riffs are more abrasive, the structures more tortured, and the whole gives off a renewed aggression. The band seems to have wanted to remember where it came from while integrating the lessons learned over the years. The result combines writing maturity with savage execution, a balance hard to hold over the long run.
Keith Buckley’s sharp pen
True to himself, Keith Buckley keeps wielding irony and self-mockery like weapons. His lyrics, dense and vivid, swing between disillusioned clarity and raging energy. That writing, recognizable among thousands, gives the record a strong identity where every scream seems to carry meaning. You find again that unique tone that sets the band apart from the mass of hardcore acts more concerned with the wall of sound than the message.
Nuances and colors
The record allows itself a few breathing spaces and nuances that enrich its palette, without ever diluting the tension. These variations remind us that the band knows how to play with dynamics, alternating frontal assaults and more twisted passages. That controlled diversity prevents fatigue and keeps the listener alert from start to finish, in a flow of energy rarely caught off guard.
In the end, New Junk Aesthetic stands as a solid milestone in Every Time I Die’s career, proof of a band able to reinvent itself without betraying itself. Rougher than its predecessors, it rewards fans of strong sensations while keeping that sense of twisted melody that is the house trademark. A ferocious, intelligent and generous record, to be savored without moderation.
