Review Summary: The spirit of Every Time I Die lives on
Much like what’s been said about albums like that of the latest Greyhaven release, it’s hard to listen to music like this without thinking about the arduous split of Every Time I Die. The bouncy, Southern-inspired riffage of ETID has gone on to inspire many bands, and surprisingly, Elwood Stray’s style falls a lot closer to that sound than you’d think at first glance. First off, they’re German, which is not exactly the home of Maylene and the Sons of Disaster. Second off, they describe themselves more as a “modern hardcore” band with elements of nu-metal mixed in. Being that this is Elwood’s first full-length, and considering they came up out of pretty much nowhere, you’d probably expect some growing pains; some rough production choices, imperfect vocal deliveries, hit-or-miss riffs, what have you.
The truth is, almost none of that applies here.
Gone With the Flow completely knocks it out of the park and would serve as a great replacement to fill the void that Every Time I Die left us, much like Greyhaven’s recent output. The chunky southern riffs are aplenty, especially on the likes of “Playing Along”, “Negative”, and “Half-Life”, which really wouldn’t have felt out of place on
Radical or
Low Teens. It’s a stellar first outing, with even the vocals being reminiscent of Keith Buckley at times. The influence is consistent throughout the entire 32-minute runtime, and boy does it fill up that time well.
It’s not just a gratuitous case of ETID-worship either, as there’s plenty of other influences here; the opener “Outcasts” in particular carries a flame similar to that of the first couple Bad Omens albums, but with their own signature flair. “Decay” features some brilliantly soulful and bluesy leads, while the interlude “Four Shells” is a great transition into “Seasons”, which almost feels a bit like an Architects (circa
All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us) type of vibe at points. The album’s bookended by two of the best cuts off here; the one-two punch of “Negative” into “Pendulum” tells the listener that this band may wear its influences on its sleeve, but they’re not beholden to them.
I’ve yet to find much information on the actual band members, but the vocalist pretty much sounds like the spirits of Noah Sebastian, Keith Buckley, and Mike Garrow from Savage Hands got together into a cloning machine and created a sort of hybrid that sounds like all three at their best. The guitarists channel the bouncy southern flair of Andy Williams (also known as The Butcher in All Elite Wrestling) and Jordan Buckley to a T, the drumming is well done, the bassist does what’s asked of them, and the production overall sounds huge and befitting of a Southern-inspired hardcore act.
Gone With the Flow will definitely fill the void, alongside the rest of ETID (sans Andy) getting together with Greg Puciato to form Better Lovers, and alongside Greyhaven.
