Released: July       Genre: Hardcore        Metacritic Rating: 92       CRM Rating: 9/10

Seven records in, Buffalo heavyweights Every Time I Die were never going to disappoint, with From Parts Unknown keeping up the bands consistent brilliance. With Every Time I Die you know exactly what you’re going to get, and it’s always exactly what you want. From Parts Unknown is a thrilling mass of angry noise, storming along at a blistering pace as soon as The Great Secret erupts after an ominous opening. It’s fierce, frantic, and downright fantastic; the most essential release of 2014 for anyone who likes their music anything heavy. Each track is a bruiser, as you’d probably expect, and each bruises in traditionally enthusiastic fashion, be it on the dynamic If There Is Room To Move, Things Move or the hectic Pelican Of The Desert. What seems clear on From Parts Unknown, at least for this amateur blogger is that nobody really does it better than Every Time I Die. The band perfected their sound long ago, but with the aid of Kurt Ballou on production they’re managed to condense their heavier edge in order for it to make more of an impact; there are certainly elements of Converge on some of the more notably savage tracks.

On From Parts Unknown Keith Buckley’s lyrical ability really shines through, and I’m a big fan of a heavy song which is also well written lyrically. Buckley is never anything but engaging and compelling, but on Moor, my favourite song to take influence from Shakespeare this year, he is a deranged poet of the highest calibre, screaming ‘All I want is his head and this horrible fucking world will be wonderful again / There’s so much beauty in love and when I eat his beating heart I can bring it back to us’ during my favourite minute of the record. I fucking love those lines, and I fucking love From Parts Unknown, which is the best out-and-out heavy release I’ve heard this year. All hail ETID.

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