Is this a reissue? Nope… just some generic post-metalcore shit that sounds like it’s the best part of a decade old. In fairness, lead single and album opener ‘Just A Memory’ does boast a major hook, which leaps out from the sub-90s rock-meets Linkin Park trudge and the painful fretwanking. It’s by far the best track on the album.
Singer Craig Mabbitt sheds some light on the origins of the album, explaining that the album was titled ‘Hate Me’ because “Lyrically, a lot of these tracks are based around the hate we’ve received over the years and just embracing that and using it to our own advantage… I’ve had to step up to the plate lately, for the fans as much as anything else, because they take the name Escape The Fate very seriously and I owe them something for that, for all the support they’ve shown us over the years.”
Really? If there’s one thing I abhor more than middle of the road overproduced rock, it’s American sports clichés. ‘Step up to the fucking plate?’ It sounds like a bad office pep talk, only without the prospect of a bonus.
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And then there’s the fact people have been giving this band a hard time. But why? I’m going to ignore the vaguely sexist cover art and concentrate on the music here. It’s what I do: I am a music critic, after all.
The emo-pop-rock of ‘Live for Today’ – which builds lyrical cliché upon lyrical cliché – would be lightweight stadium op turd even without the autotune, but seriously, who decided that bouncing, dancefloor-friendly beats were ‘rock’? Take PVRIS, for example: they’re a 90s dance pop band. Why the fuck are they all over Kerrang? Elsewhere, ‘Breaking Me Down’ goes all out on the stadium rock anthem line, and frankly, it’s just as painful. And people think goth’s depressing.
Escape the Fate Online
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