Every Time I Die, '68, Candy [garage]

Spawned from the frigid hellscape of Buffalo to combat the falsehood that listening to metal for lyrics is rock music’s “reading Playboy for articles,” Every Time I Die have spent two decades positioning their livewire riffs to explode upon instant contact with rampaging singer Keith Buckley – mathcore’s poet Laureate of alcoholic self-loathing. Thankfully, whether the dude’s copping a stoner-rock croon or howling about turning 42 (the November 19th date shall be... a birthday... bonanza), Buckley maintains remarkable intelligibility without sacrificing a thimble of frenetic energy. 2021’s Radical, a Trump-damaged masterpiece of an LP9, foregrounds the singer’s most gleefully self-destructive, despairingly nihilistic words to date – imbuing each pit-ready breakdown with palpable catharsis and urgency. Don’t wear your earbuds too tight. ‘68 and Candy open both nights. —2859246