Every Time I Die

Eventual decline may be a reality that all artists face, but Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley has told at least one interviewer that he’s certain his creative well is going to run dry any day now. Strangely, Buckley’s fatalism, while not immediately obvious in the music, actually helps Every Time I Die retain its vitality. With the hounds of artistic irrelevance hot on his trail, Buckley stays on his toes by pitching wit, humor, attitude, brains and sarcasm into the band’s gnashing brand of metalcore. As a whole, Every Time I Die has avoided monotonous repetition and has actually managed to get heavier by tempering its metal with shades of Southern rock. Buckley, meanwhile, has upped his command of melody. So much so, in fact, that on the band’s latest album, New Junk Aesthetic, he evokes the operatic spirit of the new wave of British heavy metal, only without the excessive histrionics.