Ecstatic Ephemera: FEATID
Ranking Every Time I Die's career-long list of stellar guest features.
Radical, the ninth full-length album from Buffalo mainstays Every Time I Die, has only been out for not quite a week and it’s already one of my favourite records of the year. It was hard not to gush about it in my 9/10 review for Exclaim!, but I just couldn’t resist:
With one of the most uncompromising and sophisticated discographies in heavy music, it’s hardly surprising that Every Time I Die move into their third decade of existence with an emphasis on refinement and range over unnecessary risks. Rather than fix what isn’t broken, Radical finds the group doubling down and levelling-up their expansive, swaggering metalcore in every way possible.
The centre of the album hinges on two incredible tracks— “All This and War” and “Thing With Feathers”—that both offer great guest features while also having completely different sonic profiles. So, I wanted to put together the definitive list of ETID guest features from across their illustrious twenty-year career and rank them in terms of my own personal taste and enjoyment. Enjoy!
8) “Punch-Drunk Punk Rock Romance” (feat. Howard Jones from Blood Has Been Shed/ex-Killswitch Engage)
This is where it all started. ETID’s album debut, 2001’s Last Night in Town, is ground-zero for their particular brand of metallic party chaos and “Punch Drunk Punk Rock Romance” makes that desire explicit. Given that Howard Jones wasn’t yet a part of metalcore giants Killswitch Engage, his feature here is more representative of his time in crushing Connecticut metallers Blood Has Been Shed, adding grit and aggression to the band’s dissonant sonic palette.
7) “Thing With Feathers” (feat. Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra)
Slotted away in Radical’s mid-section, “Thing With Feathers” acts as the calm before the storm of the record’s second half. What starts as a sweeping, plaintive ballad resting on Buckley and Andy Hull’s duelling croons, quickly escalates into a full-blown heavy rager that refuses to sacrifice energy and power for emotive vulnerability. A moving tribute to Buckley’s sister, Jaclyn, who passed away from a long struggle with Rett syndrome at the start of 2017, the lyrical poignancy of lines like “In the long dark night of eternal life/ You’ve always been a light” and “The divine does not divide, she permeates” makes for some of the most arresting moments in the band’s career.
6) “INRIhab” (feat. Dallas Green of Alexisonfire)
Chances are if you ask the average ETID fan for their favourite track off 2007’s The Big Dirty, it’ll be the now-iconic “We’rewolf.” And while that track is indeed a certified banger, I would argue that “INRIhab” is the superior cut. It features great guitar licks, rocking choruses and soaring verses propped up by Alexisonfire songbird Dallas Green. And it also happens to sport possibly my favourite bridge and Buckley lyrical gem from ETID’s entire career:
And in my 27th year/
I was dragged kicking and screaming into the light.
And I looked at God in the face and I said, I said God, I said/
I said, “I thought I’d been in Heaven this whole time.”
5) “Kill the Music” (feat. Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance)
Similar to the situation with “INRIhab” above, scene staple “The New Black” often steals the limelight from 2005’s fan-favourite Gutter Phenomenon, yet “Kill The Music” is, to my mind, another perfect slice of mid-2000s ETID. Following their mainstream breakthrough with 2004’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way shows up to add his trademark sass and nasal inflection to the band’s southern rock swagger, as Buckley adds with a wink: “Come on, baby, give me the creeps.”
4) “It Remembers” (feat. Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco)
It’s no secret that Panic! At The Disco frontman Brendon Urie is a huge ETID fan. He’s even got an ETID tattoo (New Junk Aesthetic gang represent) and I can only imagine what a massive bucket list achievement it must have been for him to feature on the incredible Low Teens (2016). “It Remembers” finds ETID wandering into sludge metal territory, as Buckley and Urie chase oblivion while serenading one another with delicate desert croons.
3) “Old Light” (feat. Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem)
This track is easily one of my favourite ETID deep cuts. The inclusion of folk-punk troubadour Brian Fallon to the band’s raucous metalcore formula on 2014’s From Parts Unknown is something that, on paper at least, shouldn’t really work but it totally does here. Fallon’s gruff vocals help to bring out the track’s hooky, earworm chorus before Buckley burns it all down over a staccato breakdown outro. *chef’s kiss*
2) “The Sweet Life” (feat. Matt Caughthran of The Bronx)
For some reason I’ve never truly understood, 2009’s New Junk Aesthetic cops a lot of shit from the ETID fandom. It’s often placed last or near last in album rankings and that choice will forever remain baffling to me. Not only does the album have stunning concept artwork, it also features some of the band’s best-ever tracks (“Wanderlust”; “White Smoke”; “Organ Grinder”). Who better than The Bronx’s very own Matt Caughtran to jump on full-throttle party-starter “The Sweet Life” and warn about the dangers of excess, while Buckley flips a line from Matthew Wilder’s “Break My Stride”? I mean, come on.
1) “All This and War” (feat. Josh Scogin of ‘68/The Chariot/ex-Norma Jean)
As stylistically versatile as ETID have proven themselves to be, my favourite tracks from the group typically skew towards the heavier end of their sonic spectrum and Radical cut “All This and War” is no exception. The track kicks off with angular riffage and crashing drums, before moving into a dreamy section punctuated by echoed vocal refrains and eerie guitar leads. Hurtling towards the track’s midway point, cowbell signals the arrival of a pneumatic stomp section and Pantera-esque groove, before a spine-tingling vocal break from Josh Scogin pushes things over the edge and tips into the abyss.
Stream the full playlist on Spotify below: