review by: Roberto Martinelli

I’ve learned recently that the shows that have the most enthusiasm and energy both on stage and off are the metalcore ones. The scene is young, fresh and spirited. There is a genuine love between the bands and fans and each group feeds off each other. People FLY off the stage and prop up their beloved bands’ vocalists as they too launch themselves headlong into the audience, delivering lyrics the whole way. The shows are powerful and clear, free from any triggered drum fuckery that ruins more metal shows than it helps.

Seeing Every Time I Die play the Pound (review in our pages) permanently solidified the notion that for a good time, these were the shows to see. And listening to Every Time I Die’s Hot Damn! brings me back to that show and its wonderful energy.

Aggressive riffing mixes with very tasty licks to form a record that’s wholeheartedly aggressive yet lighthearted at the same time. The band is committed to what they do but clearly aren’t on some negative head trip. If you don’t get caught by this music, then you and this genre better just move on.

The sound is big and beautifully clear, accentuating the fact that this is guitar and drum driven music. The vocals are atypical, having a certain Southern jive, Oxbow quality to them.

Hot Damn! is a fine album, a nice, compact, 27-minute pocket of metalcore brilliance with aggression that has some sense of humor. Top to bottom, it’s well put together and certainly a worthy acquisition for any fan of this exciting scene. (7/10)