Everyone Dies in Utah, Seeing Clearly

At a time when bands like Thrice, From Autumn to Ashes, and Atreyu took over the music scene, bands like Everyone Dies In Utah would have fit that old cliché “a dime a dozen” almost perfectly. Almost. However, at a time when music seems to be changing direction, bands such as this seem harder to come by. I don’t know if it’s for my lack of trying or simply because they just don’t make them like they used to, but I’m inclined to believe it is the former.

The thing about Everyone Dies In Utah is that they have almost every cliché down for this genre of music, a genre which I believe hit its peak years ago and now is left hanging by scraps and morsels. Seemingly clever song names? Check. Lots and lots of mosh pit-worthy breakdowns? Check. Screaming mixed with screaming a la the aforementioned bands? Check. Oh, yeah, and a name with a form of “death” in it. (I guess it could be worse, though. Apparently a band exists on Epitaph called “Skip the Foreplay.” Yes, really.)

The two things that help Everyone Dies In Utah stand out are simply electronica and their lyrics. First off, they throw some random synth in their songs, or throughout the entire song. This becomes most apparent in songs such as “Synthesize Me Captain.” Now when you think of that hardcore (though really, it’s closer to screamo, but not quite as emo, so maybe screamcore?) with the synth, you tend to think of bands such as Scary Kids Scaring Kids and Enter Shikari.

Well, EDIU manages to blend the electronica into the otherwise heavy music and remain heavy, something I feel those other bands can’t do as well. The music itself also comes up somewhere between early Thrice and Atreyu, but when the harmony comes in with the singing, it tends to sound like Killswitch Engage, which is quite a compliment coming from me.

Aside from the music, you have to really listen to these words. With ideas that could end up on a t-shirt, such as “We shoot to kill / We aim to please” and “Count your blessings / not your burdens,” there is definitely something overwhelmingly positive about this band. You get a vibe of, “This is your world, this is your life, do something with it and enjoy yourself,” which is somewhat rare in music today, because most songs seem to be about heartache and drugs (which is okay, you have to write what you know).

The album almost comes off seeming like a seminar from one of those self-help gurus, like the guy Jim Carrey saw in the movie Yes Man. And I am well aware that there exists a genre of music called “posicore,” but I don’t really feel like looking that up and seeing what bands are or are not considered to be a part of it. All I know is that with a positive attitude, this band could get very far and stand out amongst other seemingly similar bands. Once upon a time, Pennywise was named “PMA” for “positive mental attitude” and look how long that’s worked for them.