If it ain't broke, why fix it?

Last week Buffalo bruisers Every Time I Die released their highly anticipated fifth full length album, "New Junk Aesthetic," to rave reviews and impressive sales, but is the latest offering from everybody's favorite metalcore jokesters really all it's cracked up to be? Of course it is.

Sure, ETID don't exactly stray too far from their tried and true formula of crunchy southern-fried hardcore dipped in metal sauce, but they still manage to make it sound fresh. Hey, Bad Religion have been making the same album for 25 years and they're still one of the best punk rock bands on the planet.

The recipe to ETID's rock lies within their three core members, guitarist Andy Williams and brothers Keith and Jordan Buckley, who play guitar and sing, respectively. Williams and Jordan create a dirty, down-tuned wall of noise with their guitars, and Keith spray paints witty prose on top. Keith especially has a certain charm to him. He sounds like your older, smarter brother that happens to be in an awesome metal band.

The elder Buckley oscillates between a throaty roar and a borderline sensual croon, all the while spouting lyrics about the end of the world and other such metal topics. "There is nothing to see here and nothing gazes back at me," he laments on "Who Invited the Russian Soldier?" Buckley's extensive vocabulary and increasingly excellent singing voice have made Every Time I Die the darlings of the metalcore movement over the last couple years, and it definitely seems they deserve it. Their last two albums, "The Big Dirty" and "Gutter Phenomenon" racked up so many five star reviews and album of the year list appearances. It's hard to imagine "New Junk Aesthetic" not carrying through with the accolades as well. Unsurprisingly, "New Junk Aesthetic" starts crushing skulls right off the bat, when opening track "Roman Holiday" elbows you in the throat with some serious feedback and a heavy helping of Buckley's cigarette and beer-soaked howl. The unsung hero of the album, however, is new bassist Josh Newton. Newton, a former member of the now legendary From Autumn to Ashes and fantastic Kansas City noise rock band Shiner, brings a hefty and refreshing thump and rumble to the ETID rhythm section.

The album's first single, "Wanderlust," is a catchy romp through hell, which finds Buckley throwing down some of the best lyrics he's penned. When he sings "I can't say where I've been and only God knows where I'll be, but there must be a place for a wretch like me," one can't help but wonder if Keith might be one of the better lyricists of our time. "New Junk Aesthetic" is just one awesome, bone-snapping dirge after another. So Every Time I Die aren't undergoing any kind of identity crisis, but what they do works, and that's more than most bands can say. "New Junk Aesthetic" is on sale at Best Buy this month for $9.99, and is worth the price if only for the hilarious DVD and awesome artwork that accompany the album.