From Parts Unknown＜Colored Vinyl＞

Album number seven from the Buffalo, New York-based metalcore sextet continues in the vein of 2012's Ex Lives with another scorching set of punk-blasted malevolence that somehow manages to be both relentlessly kinetic and imposingly muscular. The 12-track, Epitaph-issued From Parts Unknown is, for the most part, bereft of the slick, breakdown-bloodied, electro-industrial flair that seems to have become the norm in the increasingly tech-heavy and overly mechanized-sounding metalcore scene. More classic screamo with a punk-metal agenda, the band sounds possessed from the very start, with a fevered Keith Buckley trumpeting his horn of dis-plenty and declaring "Blow your f**king brains out" over a wash of thrashy dissonance that's more Carcass than Converge. Clocking in at two-and-a-half minutes, "The Great Secret" serves as an effective litmus test for the listeners tolerance for brutality, as it's almost epic compared to the diminutive (relatively speaking) "Pelican of the Desert," "Thirst," and "All Structures Are Unstable," all of which are delivered in punchy, less-than-two minute, decibel-pushing bursts. In fact, only "El Dorado," a refreshingly meat-and-potatoes-sounding slab of punishing pseudo-biker metal with classic hard rock roots showing, breaks the four-minute mark, and that discipline in regards to brevity goes a long way in helping such bitter medicine go down. Every Time I Die have established themselves as one of the more reliable and relatable (in a nervy, dysfunctional way) acts to come out of the genre, not to mention one of the most discernable, and the commanding From Parts Unknown does nothing to tarnish that reputation. ~ James Christopher Monger