Weekly Update #31 – November 17, 2024

FEATURED ALBUM
Falling In Reverse // Popular Monster
Released: August 16, 2024

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.

Playlist of New Songs

Quick playlist highlights: There have been a lot of great songs released in the last month. I can’t talk about all 50 that are in this playlist, but here are my favorites.

– Great American Ghost has been killing it. Their 2022 EP was amazing and I’m loving their recent singles. This might be my favorite of the bunch – the melodic sections having those harsh yells is so cool.

– Eidola already has a new single after releasing a 13-song album earlier this year. Almost as if it’s a nice reminder that they should be considered on your album of the year list. Don’t worry Eidola, I didn’t forget about you.

– Counterparts released a surprise EP, and it’s massive. First off, I give them huge credit for dropping it with no announcement – that is extremely rare for a big band these days. The EP is a culmination of Counterparts’ recent sound, but it’s even more intense because Brendan Murphy is using his heavier vocals that he typically reserves for End (his other band). It’s crazy looking back…we’re a long way from “The Disconnect.” Counterparts has aged perfectly.

– Galleons and Eidola must be using the same playbook because they’re also back with another single at the end of the year to remind us of the insane 15-song album that they released at the start of February. Don’t worry guys, your top 10 spot has been locked in.

– Reflections re-recorded and re-mastered a bunch of songs from their 2013 album, ‘Exist.’ “Vain Words From Empty Minds” has always been one of my favorites and it’s cool to hear their modern take on it. I’m also hopeful that they’ll revisit this style in the future. The recent Humanity’s Last Breath/ Vildhjarta deathcore stuff they’ve been doing is cool, but I’ll always have a special attachment to the technical/ progressive stuff that they were doing at the start.

– Angelmaker released their first single with Ian Bearer (ex-Rings of Saturn) on vocals. Ian sounds great, and I expect that their future songs will be even more impressive as his chemistry with the band continues to grow.

– Soulkiller just released a new EP. This is Shawn Spann’s new band (vocalist of I, The Breather). I’m stoked to see him continue making music, and this is a pretty fresh mix of EDM elements with metalcore.

– Another new song from Elitist! It seems safe to say that these guys are cooking up something big and not just releasing one-offs. This track is giving Loathe vibes from ‘The Cold Sun’ which is phenomenal. If you’re looking for more of that sound, check out In Fear’s 2023 album.

– Frontierer is insane. An actual sonic assault on your senses. Fans of Carbomb and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza rejoice.

–Molotov Solution have risen from the ashes with their first new song in 13 years. Nick Arthur’s vocals have been missed, and the time is ripe for them to return to their focus on political issues and government conspiracy theories.

– Our Last Night released a cover of the Twenty-One Pilots song “Heathens.” I wouldn’t normally care about it, but the song prominently features Jake Luhrs (vocalist) and JB Brubaker (guitarist) from August Burns Red. August Burns Red doesn’t do a lot of features so it’s interesting that they teamed up with Our Last Night and contributed so extensively to this song.

– Darko is unstoppable. They released a 19-song album earlier this year, and now they drop “Blood Host” which is accompanied by a 14-minute short film as a music video. Incredible work ethic and infinite creativity.

DRAMA – As I Lay Dying in Shambles

As I Lay Dying released their new album ‘Through Storms Ahead’ on November 15. Right before its release, every member of the band except Tim Lambesis (vocalist) quit, their touring manager quit, and they cancelled their European tour.

I’m shamelessly pulling the below summary from Wikipedia. It looks like As I Lay Dying will definitely be navigating storms ahead for the foreseeable future.

“On October 18, 2024, Ryan Neff announced his departure from the band, citing a need to benefit his “personal and professional journey”. Just six days later, Ken Susi and Nick Pierce also announced their departures from the band, stating that their “personal morals have been tested to a breaking point” and needing to preserve “personal health and integrity”. In conjunction with Pierce and Susi, the band’s touring manager resigned as well, effectively cancelling the planned European tour for the album. On October 30, Phil Sgrosso announced his departure from the band, adding that the band “no longer offers a healthy or safe environment for anyone involved” and that he could not “enable further actions that could negatively affect anyone working within this space”, leaving Tim Lambesis the sole remaining member of the band.

Lambesis addressed the situation on November 4, 2024, agreeing with what was said and adding, “I can stick strong to my vision for the future of AILD even when others think it should go another direction—it saddens me to think about the behaviors, communication, and patterns of interaction that led up to the tour cancellation—I fully support each of the guys’ decisions to leave and believe at this time it is best for everyone. With that being said, my door will always remain open to discussing anything directly as I believe closing communication lead to many assumptions and problems of its own.” Lambesis also stated that he intends to continue As I Lay Dying with a more positive and collaborative environment.”

DRAMA – Thrown Headlining Tour

In an unbelievable turn of events, Thrown has announced a headlining tour. They have one album and one EP, but their longest song is only 2 minutes and 38 seconds long. Most of their songs last two minutes or less.

Their entire discography is 31 minutes and 49 seconds. I don’t know how they’re going to headline a tour with such little material – they need to be able to play for at least an hour. It’ll also be interesting to see a metalcore band play so many short songs back to back. Some underground genres are built on short songs (like meth.’s recent experimental album), but that’s not normally how metalcore works.

Other than that, the tour should be interesting. Varials’ latest album sucked, but No Cure would be fun. Heavensgate could actually end up being the highlight. Check out the dates below.