8th January 2020

Under The Influence #28: Cutting Teeth on “Low Teens” by Every Time I Die!

Released in 2016 “Low Teens” is incredibly the 8th studio album from Buffalo New York heroes Every Time I Die. The only album to feature Daniel Davison (Underoath, Norma Jean) upon the drum stool and saw Will Putney in the production chair as well as their usual guest appearances, this time out from Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco and Tim Singer, formerly of Deadguy. Although not necessarily apparent from the album itself, the lyrics were inked by vocalist Keith Buckley as he sat in hospital beside his 7 months pregnant wife and unborn daughter, having rushed home mid-tour due to the call of a life threatening emergency. Universally critically acclaimed and from a band who show no sign of slowing up their high energy intensity after 22 years together, the band may have a rotating drum and bass pairing but still have the all important axis of Jordan Buckley, Andy Williams and Keith Buckley as their holy trinity intact.

James from Cutting Teeth comments: “When this album first came out I remember us all being grabbed by it, I’ve been an ETID fan for over a decade and from the disjointed riff at the start of “Fear and trembling” to the epic ring out of “Map-change” the album is front to back a solid body of work. When we started the band, we’d reference that album a lot and pulled a lot of inspiration from the overall sound of the record being both heavy in sound and lyrics. It’s something we still pull from today. Tracks like “The Coin has a Say” is so heavy and driving when it kicks in. It’s filled to the brim too with riffs like the intro to “Awful lot” is so disorientating and jarring it’s refreshing to hear even to this day. Lyrically too we’ve always admired Keith’s style. His use of metaphors and witty commentary is always fun to listen to but on this album, he goes much deeper pulling from real emotion and hard-hitting real-life experiences. Overall as an album it has a bit of everything from metal/ hardcore/ rock and sets itself apart from other modern heavy music releases with its emotional messages and themes making it a timeless classic.”