Moderate Rock

Every Time I Die are a runaway train. They’re a firestorm, a powerhouse, a prize fighter delivering knockout blow after knockout blow. Brighton has seen all sorts of course but only rarely a crackling, commanding, confident show like this. This is the sound of a band satisfying their fans, certifying their authority and silencing their critics.

Because it hasn’t always been like this. The Buffalo band have been to the UK many times before but they’ve progressed slowly, even stalled at times, and while some might say it’s because their sound is too spiky, too chaotic, too clever even, it’s also because they’ve played badly. Oh, they’ve always been tight but they’ve also been tired, cold and distant. It was almost like they didn’t want to close the deal. Not so now. Tonight they close in seconds.

‘Apocalypse Now and Then’, released from the claustrophobic production of its album is a bristling beast of an opener, equally monstrous and melodic it typifies what ETID do so well and if nothing else sounded as good all night, it would still make this one of best gigs of the year. ‘Bored Stiff’, all squealing riffs and shaking hips, proves much more than an excuse to shout the C word, and frontman Keith Buckley absolutely owns a ragged run through ‘The New Black’. Seriously, at one point his mic cuts out but you can still hear the dude howling from the back of the room.

The whole band kill though, including new old (old new?) bassist Steve Micciche. Of course it helps that at this point they’re packing a seriously impressive back catalogue and while it’s great to hear classics (seriously, these songs are almost a decade old and are perfect) like ‘Ebolarama’ and ‘I’ve Been Gone a Long Time’, one of the best bits of the night is the raucous, riot-starting new song they air. An itchy, scratchy venomous beast, it suggests the next Every Time I Die album will arrive armed and very dangerous. And the next tour? That’s when they take over.