Every Time I Die was out for blood with this one, damn. One of the most fast-paced and relentless cuts off of their 2014 full-length From Parts Unknown, it immediately caught my attention on my first play-through, and kept it all the way until even now. Thirst is the shortest song they have, at just under one and a half minutes, and it makes good use of every second to bring you their signature math-y metalcore sound.
It goes straight into Keith's word-heavy raging, with no chill and not even the slightest pause. The riffage underneath is fast and intense, pacing the vocals perfectly. This is exactly half the song, before they go into a short bass break and then throw down hard. The bass break is unnervingly great at building the tension. The lyrics here are some of his best despite its simplicity, it's just such an impactful set of lines that he's saying before the breakdown. The bass and guitar back-and-forth is tasteful, but the drop is even better. Another great line from Keith, and the riff is simple but fucking amazing.
Thirst is such a short song that I am physically limited by how much I can talk about it, but it has quickly become a favourite of mine. Short songs tend to fall flat focusing too much on one thing to feel like a song, but Every Time I Die manages to condense their cutthroat brazenness in a concise fashion and create a great experience front to back, even with half the normal runtime. I have to commend it, obviously, no one does it like them but this is wild even for them.
Rating: 4.5/5