Ferret Records� Every Time I Die has been around a while, and their 2003 release Hot Damn! picked up a significant amount of sales. Now, with the release of August 2005�s Gutter Phenomenon, the band will score an even higher amount of record sales and larger fan base. Or at least that�s my prediction, and I�m saying this largely in part of the album�s low price ($9.99 at Rasputin Music, $11.99 at Hot Topic).
No matter how this year will end, I guarantee Gutter Phenomenon will be on everyone�s Top 5 Hardcore Albums of the Year, along with As I Lay Dying and Norma Jean (both of which are reviewed on euphoniaonline.net).
For those of you unfamiliar with Every Time I Die, you were probably rockin� out a little too hard to Kelly Clarkson. But if you also like Maida, Fight Paris, Still Remains, and He Is Legend, you should already be listening to Every Time I Die without me telling you to.
For those of you who have heard or own Hot Damn!, you�re in luck, because I�m going to devote the rest of the review to comparing Gutter Phenomenon with it. There are two things that immediately grab your attention concerning the difference between the two albums: the guitars and the vocals.
You�ll notice that the guitar tone is less gritty, and consequently, a little less powerful. It seems like they turned the distortion knobs a tad to the left, but for a very good reason; because the riffs are much more complicated, mobile, and volatile. So you basically get slightly cooler guitar lines with slightly less distortion. Fair trade, I�d say.
The next difference is the vocals. On Hot Damn!, they were powerful and teeth-gnashing, yet slightly unstable. The singer seemed to be oscillating between a scream and a yell (yes, there is a difference), and he did it a few million times per song. In Gutter Phenomenon, he only switches several times per song, and devotes more of his vocal cords towards the screams, which sound a bit like the screams you hear from Refused (R.I.P.) and Trivium. In addition, the singing is great. Gutter Phenomenon has more singing parts than Hot Damn!, if I remember correctly, and, like the new Norma Jean, the singing parts are not one bit emo. And that�s not the only similarity the new Norma Jean and new Every Time I Die have in common.
Although it�s way more evident on the Norma Jean, a Botch (R.I.P.) influence seems to play a very important part. And maybe I�m hearing things, but occasional parts of Gutter Phenomenon sound like what Velvet Revolver would sound like if they didn�t smoke 500 cigarettes a day. But don�t take that the wrong way.
Anyone looking for a metalcore sound minus the emotive filler, Gutter Phenomenon is the way to go. The southern hardcore force is strong in Every Time I Die. And that�s peculiar because they�re not even from the south.
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C.L. '05 |
