Falling In Reverse is one of the most controversial bands in the metal community. Fronted by Ronnie Radke, a man with an unsavory past who takes pride in being a dickhead, it’s no surprise that FIR has rubbed some people the wrong way. And yet, much to the haters’ dismay, Ronnie’s musical genius sets him apart from many others, and this is by far the best album FIR has ever made.
Despite their infamous reputation, I’ve never reviewed a FIR album, so let’s start at the beginning. Ronnie Radke was the founding vocalist of Escape The Fate in 2004. He sang on their debut album, but was later fired after being involved in an altercation during which someone was shot. Ronnie didn’t shoot the person, but he did bring brass knuckles to the fight. He pleaded guilty to battery with substantial bodily harm, later violated his probation, and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
While in prison, he continued writing music, and eight months after his release, he put out Falling In Reverse’s debut album, ‘The Drug In Me Is You.’ After that, he began experimenting with other genres, including rap, and had continual run-ins with the law. Perhaps most well known is the 2012 incident at Six Flags where he threw mic stands into the audience, injuring a few people, and causing Six Flags to ban hard rock and heavy metal bands from performing in the future.
Clearly, FIR has had some darker moments. Radke’s first attempts to incorporate rap into his music resulted in the widely mocked song “Alone.” The music video is peak 2013 cringe, but the chorus is super catchy and you can see the original blueprint of the vision that he is finally bringing to life more than 10 years later.
After that, FIR fell off my radar as I focused on heavier music. Interestingly though, Radke had the self awareness to acknowledge that FIR’s 2017 album, ‘Coming Home,’ did not do well, admitting that “it tanked.” That realization caused him to re-strategize the future of FIR’s music.
He decided to focus on singles rather than full albums. By putting all of his creativity into one song at a time, he was able to rebuild FIR’s image, earn listeners’ trust back, and make small adjustments to keep the band’s future on track. The one downside of this approach is that fans had already heard six of the ten songs (one of which had been released in 2019 and two of which had been released in 2022) on ‘Popular Monster’ before it came out in 2024. This is the same problem Bring Me The Horizon had with their recent album.
At this point, it should be clear that Ronnie Radke is the main character of Falling In Reverse. It’s his band, and everything is about him. That said, he seems to have solidified a decent cast of supporting characters, most important of which is drummer Luke Holland.
Luke is extremely well known for his YouTube channel and his time as the drummer in The Word Alive from 2012-2016. After stepping out of the limelight in 2016, he had a ton of success as a session drummer, basically using his skills to help various projects succeed. This is important because although Falling In Reverse started to course correct and put out some solid songs in 2018 and 2019, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that FIR started to become absolutely massive in 2022, one year after Luke Holland joined.
So, after the longest preamble of all time, let’s talk about the music. While FIR have improved every facet of their music, perhaps the most notable development is Radke’s rapping skills. His flow sounds more natural and he’s improved his rhyme schemes. “Prequel” is a good introduction – it’s mostly rap and sets the antagonistic tone of the album.
“Watch The World Burn” is the real highlight of the rap portions though. It has a divine, apocalyptic beat that sounds like boss music from a Dark Souls fight against God, and Ronnie’s fast rapping sections resemble combo attacks. The song seamlessly transitions into symphonic metalcore in the second half, and Ronnie’s screams sound particularly ruthless.
“Popular Monster” and “Voices In My Head” follow a standard structure. Both have great choruses as they build towards a heavy ending. Although the songs have been out for a while, they highlight FIR’s bread and butter style as Radke’s impressive vocals lead the charge.
“Ronald” will likely get the most fanfare. It features Alex Terrible (from Slaughter To Prevail) and Tech N9ne. It’s heavy all the way through and showcases Ronnie’s range of screams. Tech N9ne’s fast rap and unique style fits well because FIR has a lot of experience integrating rap into their music. Alex Terrible is the cherry on top, elevating the end of the song into deathcore levels of heaviness as he and Ronnie trade blows.
On the other side of the spectrum is “All My Life” – a country song that features Jelly Roll. It’s like a side quest to conquer other genres of music, and I’m into it. It’s a great example of Radke’s sense of music and versatility.
To wrap up my last thoughts, I want to focus on some lyrical topics. “Zombified” has to do with cancel culture, and I enjoyed it when it came out in 2022. The problem is that “No Fear” also deals with cancel culture and “Trigger Warning” deals with similar topics related to freedom of speech and political correctness. “Zombified” is sandwiched in the middle so there’s a three song streak about the same topic.
“Bad Guy” also focuses on Radke being problematic and people wanting to cancel him. That means three of the four non-singles on this album have similar lyrical content to “Zombified” which is a bit repetitive. And that’s where Falling In Reverse’s music videos provide some insight into Radke’s image of himself. In almost every single one, he is under attack – he literally gets crucified in “Prequel.” Also, in a lot of the recent ones (Ronald, Watch The World Burn, Voices, and Prequel) he’s basically a dark superhero fighting against a shadow government and other evil forces. He also shoots red lasers from his eyes pretty frequently.
I’m not going to lie, FIR’s music videos are masterpieces. The one for “Ronald” is one of the coolest I’ve ever seen. There’s also a stroke of genius in the marketing. Radke uses the music videos to rehab his own identity, portraying himself as a misunderstood, reluctant anti-hero.
It’s clear from his lyrics and public statements that Radke sees himself as one of the last bastions against the complete capitulation of heavy music to those that weaponize political correctness / wokeness. A couple months ago, right-leaning lyrics like “fuck your feelings,” you want to talk about equality but I’m not included,” and “we’re protecting the children” would mostly get made fun of, and yeah, they are pretty cringe considering Radke is 40 years old, but the recent presidential election lends some credence to Radke’s assertion that, until recently, people have been “too afraid of saying what’s on [their] mind.” It’s kind of ironic that he was prophetic in that sense – he must feel vindicated by the recent backlash against the forces he’s been fighting for years.
There are still a few awkward moments throughout the album, but that is to be expected when a band tries to push boundaries like this. In the end, it’s clear that Radke is enjoying himself again, and that translates to the high energy of this album. He thrives on being hated, and it’s fun hearing him battle his demons. And like I’ve said recently, I’m putting a high premium on fun albums this year. I never expected to say this, but good work Falling In Reverse.
Falling In Reverse // Popular Monster
Categories: Reviews
