The Drug In Me Is You - Falling In Reverse

It's funny how I've done the other two and not this one yet. I mean I've had this on CD since the day it was released, so I don't know why it took so long to do this thing. Maybe cus it was already out, who knows. What I happen to know, is the fact that this is the debut studio album by Falling In Reverse. Now when it comes to music you can't judge it by a persons personality. If you did that Dick Jagoff wouldn't be rich. I feel like I'm always backing up Ronnie, even though I probably shouldn't. I hope you picked up on the key words in the sentence. Does this thing hold up, and can I look past the nostalgia.... let's find out.

1. Raised By The Wolves: This opens the album and is a pretty solid opening. It gets you kind of excited, and I remember I was pretty pleased when I first heard it. I think it still stands up as a solid tune. I really like the electronics and the what could be programmed drums :D but I think it works. While I could see this bothering people, I think it works here. It's a pretty decent song and isn't too poppy or lame or whatever. I like the keys on this and funny ETF name drop. The only part I'm not on full board with is the whole, Guillotine "quote".
2. Tragic Magic: I remember going back and forth with this track. I though it was okay, but then I'd think it was dumb and stupid or pointless, then back to okay and so on. Okay, now off the bat I kinda cringed and this song doesn't really..... This is kinda of the other side of this record. Shit. I mean like it isn't terrible, but I just, I won't ever listen to this song again to put it clearly. I get, lyrically, where he's kinda coming from I guess. After all he was locked up in da klink for a few years. Also classy lyrics.
3. The Drug In Me Is You: This is the title track, and when it came out I was hooked. I remember listening to this thing about 100 times. I was obsessed with it. Now it's 5 years later, so I have to see if it "holds up". I mean, it isn't terrible. I think it's an easy listen and doesn't really bother me like the last track. It's decent enough.
4. I'm Not A Vampire: Ewwww, this tune. You know I only kinda liked this song at first but it kind of only grew away from me. I mean by the time the music video came out I was done with it. It's kind of a stupid song and I think more of a filler. Also the singing on this kind of bugs me. Like Another track I'll never return to again. I mean the solo's nice, but I can here solos better and far more intresting on other albums. It's kinda neo-classical influenced but really Jason Becker, Yngwie, Symphony X the list goes on and on.
5. Good Girl Bad Guys: Ewwwww. This song is kind of cancer. It's not as cancerous as say anything on Hate Me, but the only thing that's okay is the solo. But again there are much more memorable solos and cooler ones on other records I've heard. Montey even made more memorable solos, like I can't remember this even after just hearing it.
6. Pick Up The Phone: This is another song I can now say is kind of crap. Really I kind of don't get why I liked this so damn much. I mean they have a phone in here, and they did try some attempts at novelty (?) I don't even know I just really and kind of irritated a bit to be honest
7. Don't Mess With Ouija Boards:  This ain't half bad, and is kind of a Gulliotine cousin. But then when I revisit it, the click that was once there is no longer there. I think the best part is the double time, maybe if you could call it that. The solo is nice, but that transition from the solo after the verse...... Ewwww. Then the sort of breakdown. I'd rather listen to Pray for Plauges.
8. Sink or Swim: I feel like this is supposed to be deep, but never once did I find it deep. I guess another song that comes and goes, I feel nothing really. I guess the one part where it changes styles is okay.... kinda.
9. Caught Like A Fly: At one point I'd cry during this song, how fucking shallow I was. Actually I can't really even listen to this carnival barker until that part. How could would it be if there was a solo, that fit, in the beginning of the song. The piano part doesn't hit the same way it used to, all though I guess it's not half bad. The slower parts. If only there was a spanish or acoustic guitar playing along to that part.
10. Goodbye Graceful: This isn't terrible, it's okay. Decent solo, other than that just okay. I just kinda want this to be over.
11. The Westerner: This is essentially the grown up more mature fleshed out Day I Left The Womb. This still is a song I like and have to say is a solid track. I still think it's got the use of auto-tune to help and not criple the song. While I'm not as in love as I once was, It's a decent song.

Overall I have to give this album a 5/10. So does this album hold up years later. I know DIYLF is still awesome, I still enjoy dat shit, but diz shit..... I don't really know. Well I know how I feel,  as clearly expressed above,  but like what caused it. Maybe my tastes evolved over time. I am grateful for this record though, I learned I need to step up my soloing and make them more memorable and interesting. 

Just Like You (Deluxe Edition) - Falling In Reverse

Today is the 29th, so this could be my last review done before the New Year. I still have a few I'd like to get done before the 1st, but still. I have all the ones I did pre-2016 scheduled to post from the 1st to the Xst (or Xth) depending on how many I get done. This has been worked on and off since February, so it's kind of long. This is the third album by Falling in Reverse. It follows their second album, which almost sounds like a different band, Fashionably Late. I'm gonna be completely honest right now; while I didn't care for majority of the tracks, on the second album, there were some gems.  But anyway, Ronnie announced he was gonna make this a sequel to Dying Is Your Latest Fashion, which was already done with The Drug In Me Is You in certain aspects. Well not really, but you know it's good to know he's leaving his rapping to his solo career and getting to more straight forward music. The bad thing about it is he has to be doing this to appease the fans. Never do that, never do anything for anyone but yourself (or band depending on your group). Zappa put it best, paraphrased, "I make music for me. If you happen to like it cool, but I do it for me". After leaving Escape the Fate, Max Green eventually joined this group for about a year or so and is probably on this album. Now I think the last album had potential on it in its set up, execution and some of the overall ideas on the record musically. The thing is the experiments, far more often than not, were all things that I don't like. Had they incorporated things I do enjoy or liked, I probably would have given it a 8 or 9. Sadly I can find something to complain about right off the bat, that being the cover and the song titles. While I wanted to give this album time to digest, I kinda felt the same my first time through it as I did every other time. Well..... The first time I may have liked it more than I did after multiple listens. Well here we go.

1. Chemical Prisoner: While I thought this was an interesting title, to be honest this made me nervous. I only later remembered why, in part. I knew I didn't expect it to be as good as what it's [the album] the sequel to, but you never know. The reason for the title, I don't know *cough* Chemical Love. After a few listens to this track I still get the same feeling I got it the first time. I thought it sounded cool but I had this type of "unsure feeling" I would lose interest over time. That or I would dig the track and eventually find it wasn't as good as it sounded the first time. So basically I figured it wasn't as good as the initial listen gave me and sound. And I was right. But I do like the intro, and I think its a good track if is looked as a sort or trying to recapture what was once there. Do I like when People back track, not really. I think this isn't terrible, and after just finishing the review for Hate Me I can say this (this is the far superior).
2. God, If You Are Above...: This is the first single from the album. You know, to be honest, this really sounds like a song off DIYLF. Damn, even the solo on this song sounds like something Montey would play. The only thing that doesn't really sound like it would be the electronic breakdown. Though that's only because it's more updated and current sounding here. With this as the lead single, I thought this has potential to be a great album. I do like how he is getting back to a more, insightful or deep thoughtful person. This track is about a topic that is rather serious vs him talking about "Gucci Shoes" or whatever he was talking about Alone. I still think this is a solid track, it hasn't lost any of it's punch or power for me. I mean it isn't like heart breaking or genius, but there is a little more here than just, as mentioned earlier, stupid shallow bull shit. Point to Ronnie. This is how the other guy should be writting. Not making Let Me Be.... it hurts to even think of that track.
3. Sexy Drug: This is a dumb name for a song. This song is also kind of stupid. I mean after that last track this just kind of seems pointless. But you know what... fuck it. I can give him a free pass, at least there was something of substance. Let him indulge himself a bit. I do hope their next record is all God, If You Are Aboves and what not.
4. Just Like You: This track is well...... I really don't know. I mean yes while it isn't a Game Over its still planets apart from Drug In Me Is You or even the more superior Dragging Bodies Up A Hill. I think the best possible description of this song I can give you is the not good mid 2000's Weezer meets Ronnie. Enough said I think, though it should be noted if this is a "make fun of the audience I'm self aware" or a "I'll do what style of music you want but your an asshole" I'm not laughing. Sorry but those jokes don't work on me unless your from the 60s or 70s or Zappa. If I could forget this I'd be happy. Also I doubt its the later in the what the song is supposed to be. It's not often you come out and say someone is an asshole  when trying to outsmart or out whit someone. In reality its more of a redemption by way of justifying his actions by pointing out your just as capable or just as shitty a person.... Because your a person. While, if that is the "deeper meaning", I think he's did a terrible job at it. It ended up sounding like an angry 15 year old wrote this making fun of people because he was so cleaver. The only take away is maybe the fact that he doesn't care is true and he'll go back to doing what he want, not stupid fucking fan service.
5. Guillotine IV (The Final Chapter): This is possibly the angriest song I've heard by Ronnie. The thing I don't like is the electronic part during the chorus. Do artists in Post-Hardcore have a pre-rec where it says, use trendy sounds in electronic music. It's kinda buried but you can still hear it. I mean it may grow on me but who knows. I can honestly say now no it hasn't gotten better. I mean there are parts that I still am not nuts about, the vocals in the "chorus" or "hook" but it's not terrible. It's kind of grown on me. But that could be because of the whole... What am I comparing it too.
6. Stay Away: I like the vocals in beat with the rhythm. While it's not straight up, I can't think of the word, I like how it's more beat vs a over the rhythm. Kind of like The Jazz Party Hat Discharge, that type of singing. This song is okay, but not amazing.
7. Wait and See: This intro reminds me of Imagine Dragon's one song that was big. And you know to be honest, I'll just skip this if I ever revisit this track. This sounds like it was left off the last album. I do have to laugh a bit, there are parts that sound kind of dumb, but I'm sure the message is more than what I"m just hearing. But parts remind me a bit of Weird Al.
8. The Bitter End: off the bat not digging the title.  It reminds me of one of my old favorite up and coming bands lackBay ideTay.  The ending of that last song and this one kind of blended together. But really, this song is to similar to that other song to like (the other bands song). This is a pretty generic song for the band (the old band). I do like the strings in the song though, they add something to it.
9. My Hearts to Blame: When they segued into each other I thought at first this was a remix of the last track. I guess Ronnie is doing what he likes, the electronic stuff, but I don't really feel that. I mean really, there isn't anything here for me to take away. It's not terrible, but I really feel indifferent. It's not bad, but it's not good to my ears.
10. Get Me Out: Oh my gosh, what is this. This sounds like an song written with I'm Not A Vampire state of mind. But where that song wasn't terrible, but not really great, this is kind of dumb. I mean at least he's writing pop.... right? Skip. This is very much one of those, or maybe a mix of that and Goodbye Grateful.
11. Die For You: "Darling only for you, I Would". This is more of a Goodbye Graceful re-write. I mean it's okay, but I'm not insane about it or in love with it. I like the As I Lay Dying section towards the middle but yeah, I mean outside of that there isn't much I'd want to return to.
12. Brother: The only real surprise on the album after I heard the singles. I mean those didn't surprise me, but I had an idea of what to expect after those. This track, while all three records have ended with a ballad thus far, including the ETF debut, this still took me by surprise. This is a different type of ballad. Where Drifter was country, The Day I Left The Womb was kinda acoustic rocky and emo, and The Westerner is the angry grown up version of TDILTW. This track is a piano ballad. And to be completely honest I think it's by far the best track on the entire album. This also seems honest. 

Now on to the deluxe edition tracks, two tracks which I had to wait to hear because they weren't uploaded to Spotify and I didn't feel like buying the album (considering how I feel). And while I didn't mind the wait, I miss not hearing it. 

1. My Apocalypse II: I was slightly irritated that there was Guillotine IV and then the lazily titled My Apocalypse II. If it was G4 and the G5 as a bonus maybe its OK but regardless its like he's trying to make this a sequel but it just isn't as good. But now that I'm done being pissy, I have to say this is a sequel. This is part two of a track, one of my favorites, of one of my favorite albums of the 2000's. Possibly the best album in the whole ETF/FIR cannon and any other projects that anyone in the groups have touched ever. And where the original still kicks ass after a few dozen listens, this sequel immediately doesn't pull me in. The thing that killed it is an over use of auto-tune, and also the programming. It's way to electronic, where the original I don't even think has any electronics. I mean I remember being blown away as a 15/16 year old hearing how awesome he utilized auto tune on The Westerner and how it just added to his voice. Made it resonate and helped sound better. There is sounds like he isn't using it to add, but instead he is relying on it. The first few listens that really got to me. But after hearing this and revisiting it I was like.... the real problem is not the vocals, though they do bug me at parts in the chorus, it's the lack of a memorable solo. That is a huge part of this songs equation, and instead of making something memorable it sounds like a mix of the others solos. It's almost like if you were to make a Star Wars 7. And this is your version of the sequel to Jedi. And in doing so you take and add and mix a bunch of elements from the Phantom Menace to Revenge of the Sith cannon (or incorporate those movies in to your movie). Ronnie didn't write G2 or G3 but he still basically uses all three as his template for the song. And while I like Jar-Jar, it's like he replaced Boba Fett's sick ass voice that's bad ass as fuck, with a Jar-Jar......... or a lame guy who tried to do that voice but couldn't. I hope that makes sense, it does in my head. I mean Jacky does a great job at copy and pasting parts of the solos into his solo, it's just it's copy and pasted.
2. Pray: I feel like this sounds like an outtake from the last album reworked to fit on this album. Also this literally sounds like the boring rock music that you'd hear on the radio. I know I'll never return to the bonus tracks, also I know that the only decent part is that there is like a water drop sound. It's a lesser version of Brother, I guess. It's like a ballad of sorts, but misses that mark in it touching me. I mean moments sound like old ETF, but the magic is just missing you know. And even after revisiting this after a few months I was still like... what the fuck ever.

Overall I have to give this a 5/10. You know, to be honest, this isn't that great of a sequel to DIYLF. That was obviously the best thing that Ronnie has, well the There's No Sympathy For The Dead Ep was pretty great and that's excluding the tracks the reappeared on the album, oh and thee demo is great too..... what was I saying? I'm kidding, but the point is I don't think that trying to redo the past is a good thing. While I didn't like a lot of the sophomore effort I still respect him for doing what he wanted to do.  And to be honest at least that album was more engaging. While I remember cringing, at least it was a style change. This album while it's better in terms of enjoyablilty, it's not better in terms of musicality. There was only one left hook and that was the closer. Why you gotta do this to me. The sad truth is why relive the glory days. Why not accept them and move forward. Needless to say its still better than Ungrateful and ETF combine. Also he seems to be turning into Kanye in that instead of looking in for inspiration or looking out, he wants to be funny or cool and fucks it up along the way. The thing really after spending time thinking about it Ronnie Radke  can't recapture the past. He needs to move forward and maybe find a happy middle ground in between the style, and lyrics, of Dying and TNSFTD and mix it with the madcap experiments of Fashionably Late. While people reading this next sentence will most likely disagree I want to say this. Even though just about every experiment didn't click with my ears I bet there is a young boy who heard that record and went "shit, I need to push the boundaries of what's possible" or "you can do this?". And .maybe he can open the minds of people who will become this generations Paul & John or Tyler & Perry and so on. This album can't quite claim any trophy, other than sounding bland. It's just so irritating that there is so much potential with what he does, it's just he doesn't reach it. I think my cousin put it best, while Jacky can shred he just doesn't have the melodies that Monty had (Thought his 2013 solo record isn't half bad). I think each year I'll devote a month to finishing up old reviews I need to complete. I kinda did that with that 2015 month in September and that Halloween Month the other month. 

If some how Ronnie would ever see this I want to say, please keep making music the way you want (or your band). Don't let people and criticism put you down. Don't back track. In a world where ETF is long gone and lots of music is becoming uninteresting (not all, just some) the world needs people to continue on with what they like believe and love. Music is art, art is an expression, don't let others cloud your vision. Maybe one day Fashionably Late will be a classic, maybe it won't. But I sure as hell know this album won't be. 

Fashionably Late [Deluxe Edition] - Falling In Reverse

This is the second album by Falling In Reverse. Now, I loved the hell out of The Drug In Me Is You. I loved it to the point of me buying it the day it came out and listening to it a few time's before I bought it, cuz I was on their mailing list. I didn't realize this at first, but there was a Deluxe Edition. Well I picked it up. It came with a slip case that held the Cd, and a pretty big poster. and two bonus tracks too, and a remix of Rolling Stone.

1. Champion: This song's beginning reminds me of when he was in Escape the Fate. It also kind of reminds me a little of As I Lay Dying. Back on There's No Sympathy For The Dead and Dying Is Your Latest Fashion.
2. Bad Girls Club: Really? This is like a faggy version of Tragic Magic. This is supposed to be cutesy, but it's really not. This doesn't even sound like them. It sounds like a song that would be played on the summer radio. Or, well, shit.
3. Rolling Stone: This song isn't that terrible. I kind of like the beginning. The way the voices are. This song isn't like that last "gay" song. The drums reminds me of the last album. Now I'm not huge on the whole dubstep part of the song, but it's not terrible. I can tolerate it.
4. Fashionably Late: Though the lyrics on this song aren't anything special, this is much better than the other single Alone. That kind of blows. It's the sad truth. With songs like that, how can I keep sticking up for you. This song reminds me of their first album. Kind of like the self titled track of The Drug In Me Is You. It's not half bad. So far, since I'm starting the review and going as I hear the tracks, I hope that the album will be more like this than the next track on the album.
5. Alone: I don't really know what to say about this. Other than it's like a shittier version of Escape The Fate's 2010 Self Titled album. The chorus isn't half bad? :(. I like some rap, but this isn't even trap-rap, it's shit-rap. Let's hope this is like Tattoo.
6. Born to Lead: This song is like, WOW! I can't believe that this track follows Alone. Talk about a makeup track.
7. It's Over When It's Over: I don't know why he want's to be a rapper. I don't think he's that good of an emcee.
8. Game Over: Why?
9. Self-Destruct Personality: This song really doesn't do much for me. I know that it's style is good, but the chorus kind of ruins the song for me.
10. Fuck The Rest: Based of the title this can't be that good of a song. And well,.......... yes :(
11. Keep Holding On: My favorite part of Trapped Like A Fly is the piano part. This song is kind of like that, more or less, but the entire song pretty much. It's really nothing special either. It's better than the last song.
12. Drifter: This starts out like a country song. With the slide guitar and all. And it talks about life on the road. This actually isn't that bad of an album closer.

Here are the deluxe edition bonus tracks.

1. Where Have You Been: This is a pretty heavy, compared to some of the others, song. This could be so much better if it was actually on the album. I think this is a good song. I'm not praising it, but I'm saying it's better than 10 out of the 12 song on the album easily.
2. Goddamn: This isn't as good as the last track, but it's still better than 80% of the album. The math probably works out to more than eighty percent, but still.
3. Rolling Stone (Shy Kidx Remix): This isn't anything special. Trust me, unless you're a fan of dubstep.

Overall I have to give this album a 4/10. This was a surprise. I didn't really know what to think, I mean look at Alone. Seriously, I don't care if it was a "Joke" or whatever, it sucks. That's being nice about it too. I give him credit for experimenting. But I don't think that what he did everywhere is good. At the end of this review, I think I'm going to Westerner.

Dying Is Your Latest Fashion - Escape the Fate

This is the debut album, not release because their first release was There's No Sympathy For The Dead Ep, and defiantly one of my favorite albums of 2000's and probably ever. I heard this album after my cousin was talking about them and showed me this movie of them on their 2008 tour. That DVD came with their deluxe edition of This War Is Ours (which I'll review). But actually he showed me This War Is Ours the song probably, now, two years ago. I thought it was cool with the guitar solo and that it was about Halo, we are big Halo players in my family. Well I hadn't heard anything about them after that halo song, until obviously summer going into sophomore year. This album has become on of my favorite album to date.

1. The Webs We Weave: This is the first song on the album. This song is a good opener to an album. The riff on this song is pretty cool. I really like the harmony vocals on this album, and they have a type of echo. The brief guitar solo in this song after the chorus. That little diddy is awesome. I a don't know if it is better that it is short of if it would be better if it was longer. The drums on this song, along with album are also solid. I don't think it good that it sounds like he is going back in forth between screaming vocals. None the less this song is pretty damn catchy. There is another guitar diddy towards the end of the song. I think that sounds good and really like this song.
2. When I Go Out, I Want to Go Out On a Chariot of Fire: This song is a favorite of mine. And by favorite I mean I love this song. This whole entire song is catchy and is hard to get out of your head. Along with the other songs on this album, the chorus is super catchy. This has a classic Escape the Fate guitar thingy in it. This song is a really catchy song and stays catchy. Its hard to get out of your head
3. Situations: How could you not love when people pay homage to Van Halen's music video Hot For Teacher. This song was the, technically, 2nd song I remember hearing by ETF. This song wasn't one of my favorite songs that I ever heard by them the first time I ever heard this song. But the more I heard it it got better. This is a classic Ronnie song that he did with Escape the Fate. The whole catchiness and feeling of it. The ending like sweeping solo is sick as hell. It's awesome, and I lovethe crap out of that part. The song got better with each listen. The breakdown reminded me of that new Figure it Out by Serj from System.
4. The Guillotine: This was one of the coolest songs I'd ever heard. They screamed on it, they were basically BA as possible on this. The guitar and the bass and the drums had so much power. This song was about Halo. What could be wrong with this song. The answer is the ending. I feel it drags, but that is such a little problem it is a joke. I love this song and it is one of the best of the decade all together. I love this so much. There is something about the fact that they have this song as like a trilogy makes it that much more intresting.The guitar part at right before the chorus is awesome, I wish I knew how they did that.
5. Reverse this Curse: This is another classic Ronnie song. I hate to say that, because it doesn't really make any sense, but it does......? The best part of this song is the very ending. I love the way the vocals sound, and that they use a bell in it.
6. Cellar Door: This song is probably one of my least favorite. I don't know why, but it just is. The vibe that I get from this song kind isn't very fun. I feel like this sounds like music that I don't really like. This sounds like a song that would be on Epitaph Records. I don't have a problem with the label, but most of the artists songs all sound the same to me. But I feel like this could have been played by any one of them.
7. There's No Sympathy for the Dead: This is the self titled song off their debut Ep. It came out earlier that year in 2006. This song is really cool. This song is a songs that I like to sing to. I think that this is a fun song, with unclean vocals. The original My Mic Swings Low or something like that is sick. I am also in love with the chorus and pre-chorus in this song. The way they did the clean vocals on this song are cool sounding. But specifically that part "We See The Stars Falling From The Sky." that part, just makes me want to sing along. Then it got and awesome solo in it. Probably one of my favs on the album. Then after the chorus is just as cool as the solo. This is defiantly one of their best written songs. Then the strings sounds at the end, eargasm.
8. My Apocalypse: This riff has the same sound that the part in Guillotine has. There is a part where he is talking on, what sounds like a radio, and it's really... sick. I think that this song reminds me of fall, probably because I got into them during the Fall. The acoustic guitar part sounds sick as fuck, then the unclean vocals come in. 
9. Friends And Alibis: This is one of my favorite songs by this band. I think that the chorus of this song is so fricking hard to get out of my heard. I love it and the song is also good. This is kind of like the Somebody I Used to Know by Gotye for me. The first thing that attracted me to the two songs were the chorus, then the rest came after being obsessed with the chorus. The beginning of the song with the drums is a sick beginning for the album. The song is just, I don't think that I can explain it unless you hear it. I think that this has this pretty feeling to it. Then toward the ending where it goes down and just builds a little, that sounds cool.
10. Not Good Enough for Truth In Cliche: There are times that I feel that this song is kind of boring. This is a song though I could people liking. I don't know what it is about this song, but this isn't a song that I'm in love with. 
11. The Day I Left The Womb: I really like this song. I feel like the song The Westerner, off the Falling In Reverse debut album, was supposed to be like this one. Beside the fact that The Westerner is about 100 times better. You can look at at this as the "demo" version of The Westerner. This isn't nearly as good, but it's like the baby that grows into The Westerner.

Over all I am honored to give this a 9.5/10. I like reviewing albums that I love. This is a really good example of an album that is good. I honestly think everyone should listen to it before they die. The songs on that all realtily have the same structure and there is not a huge variation on the tracks. I still love this thing, and it beats their self titled album shitless. I am werry of what their next one will sound like. Because what I have gotten out of their planned sound is it was supposed to be the album inbetween This War Is Ours and Escape the Fate. They never said that, but from what they said that how I interpreted it. Each time this gets better than the last.