Every Time I Die's 'Post-Boredom', self-annihilation , & discovering your real self

'Post-Boredom,' the new single from Every Time I Die's upcoming LP 'Radical' sees the most honest moment yet from singer Keith Buckley.  

There's plenty to dig about 'Post-Boredom,' Every Time I Die's first new song since February's short and punchy single, 'AWOL.'

Clayton "Goose" Holyoak's simple but satisfying grooves and drum fills propel the track from section to section, suitably complementing the accompaniment of rollicking hardcore guitar riffs and Stephen Micciche's bass work. There's that awesome melodic change-up at the five-minute mark on the below music video that transitions into the song's strongest passage. We also get a fucking sick Every Time I Die-stamped breakdown part halfway through that's armed to the teeth with mosh energy. Then there are the rocking, well-aged vocals of Keith Buckley, who continually proves why he's one of the best voices in hardcore, rock and heavy music today. With as much heart and swagger dripping from his singing and screaming delivery, from those powerful verses to that swaying "my annihilation" chorus. It's the ETID we all expect, but the kind that's never phoned in.

The first half of this new Tes Hash and Daniel Davison filmed clip is a comedy bit about ETID working local jobs in their hometown of Buffalo, New York. Like an alternative universe where the band never formed, or like a glimpse into the future if Covid has its way, all underscored by a fun little MIDI version of Nirvana's 'Heart Shaped Box.' (Guitarists Jordan Buckley and Andy Williams, as a vape shop asshole and odd music store clerk respectively, get the goofiest lines of the whole clip, containing the band's usual sense of cheekiness.) This set-up, obviously, morphs into them jamming out this song in their various roles, with Keith having a kind of spiritual, self-revelatory moment in a random car park, flailing his body like a man possessed by the very spirit of the song itself. Some may see Keith's choreography here as just "part of the show", as just to look cool, and maybe it is. But there's no getting around the fact that 'Post-Boredom' is, lyrically, the most straight-shooting track he's ever penned for ETID.

Keith has always had a word-smith knack for clever metaphors and interesting play-on-words to express his thoughts and experiences. Countless songs of theirs follow that approach, whether in lyrical one-liners or in their names. Here, there's nothing to hide behind. 'Post-Boredom' acts as a naked mirror of a man who's fucked up, who has broken his own heart, but who is ready to discover healing and be seen after suffering unfulfillment. "I’ve done it all wrong for so long it feels okay" might just be the most telling, chilling line of self-reflection heard in any ETID song. The entire song is the frontman peeling back the curtain, discussing how he's now in a happier place in his life - that excited "post-boredom" stage of life, with everything feeling new - following a figurative "death" and how that process began.

That "my annihilation" hook isn't just there because it sounds cool - though it is dope - but because that's the focal point of the song's message. (Which also maybe sorta kinda feels like an intentional reference to the deeper and proper reading of intent behind Alex Garland's 2018 film, Annihilation? ) It's totally, wholly, about self-destruction, about where you go when you reach the bottom. A sentiment also expressed in the final line of 'Desperate Pleasures': "There’s nowhere but up from a canyon in hell." This is a publically made promise via song form: to be honest with himself, to move on from divorce, and to get off a slippery slope that he found himself going down. It's fucking real, man.

Every Time I Die's new album is called 'Radical' and it's out October 22nd via Epitaph Records. A band like ETID - with their history, their kind of humour and energy, their kind of live shows, and their kind of songs - calling their new album 'Radical' might honestly just be the most appropriate album titling ever.