Yeah like, it’s not their best sounding record or anything but I’m surprised how often it comes up. You’d think it was a St. Anger situation or something haha. But it also came out in a time when I couldn’t have given a fuck less about production quality so it may just be grandfathered in my mind
this might be a long post so i apologize in advance and not saying anything new here so feel free to gloss over or tell me congratulations or you're sorry. i've known about ETID since Gutter, but tend to forget about them as none of their albums have ever clicked or stuck with me. i have no memories tied to any albums or songs except for when Gutter came out and the song with Gerard Way came out i remember the "metal kids" in my high school hated it because "now everyone is gonna like ETID because of him" (lol kids). but i never kept track of them, but would randomly listen to their albums as a casual observer and then literally never go back unless the band came up in conversation or something. but with Radical, idk. i find, looking back on when Radical came out a few months ago, that I was searching for an album to connect to and make meaningful to me. I (finally) graduated in college in September and was anxious to find an album to associate that period of my life to and didn't find one. Now, not saying Radical reminds me of graduation but as soon as it started i was like, "ok we have something here" and by the end of the second play through i was all in. since then i have listened to the album in full at least once a day. and all of their albums have been added to my running playlist and there's some other dimension i entered when i was 15 miles in to a grueling trail run the other weekend and the lyrics of "I broke my own heart I'm trying to convince myself that I can suffer if I want, motherfucker" came around on Post-Boredom that made me laugh and never sounded so true and perfect in that moment. anyways, ETID are likely creeping up my favorite artist list but tbh it's mostly still from this record alone. the rest i need to revisit more (along with what my favorite artist list would look like) and look forward to doing so but happy to gave Radical a chance, and almost immediately upon release, and didn't wait on it like i did with some of their other work.
Listened to NJA and Ex-Lives today, both amazing records and NJA will likely remain my favorite but I'm going to spin From Parts Unknown through Radical tomorrow and then probably the early records on Friday
I like to just ask Alexa to play every song from Low Teens in whatever random order they come to me, and it really feels like Radical is going to end up being the same thing.
Was doing a discography run today because of this thread and realized most of their album art is pretty terrible lol I love Ex Lives and The Big Dirty covers but the rest range from meh to awful
I would almost say Radical is the worst offender. Probably the reason I don't have an ETID tattoo. While I do really personally dislike their art, I don't know what would fit them better, but maybe because I'm just so used to it at this point.
ETID Album Cover Rankings: 1. Ex Lives 2. The Big Dirty 3. New Junk Aesthetic 4. Gutter Phenomenon 5. From Parts Unknown 6. Hot Damn! 7. Radical 8. Last Night In Town 9. (Getting hit by a bus) 10. Low Teens
The artwork for New Junk Aesthetic is very memorable to me and has been one of my favorites over the years. That album was the introduction to the band for me so it's cool to see the love on the most recent page for it.
Yeah, New Junk Aesthetic artwork is the GOAT followed by The Big Dirty and Ex-Lives. Jordan was kind enough to sign my NJA CD booklet when I originally picked it up at Warped Tour. He was very grateful and easy to talk to.
Most of their artwork is definitely meh I actually really like the artwork to Radical. I saw the vinyl for it in person a few weeks back before I got into the album and didn't pick it up. Now I'm kicking myself for not getting it. Ex Lives and FPU is probably the best artwork I think