It is pretty ironic for a band named Escape The Fate to have its nascent career marked by ill fate and death. After his involvement in a gunfight that tragically resulted in the death of poor 18-year-old Michael Cook, frontman Ronnie Radke was forced to plead guilty in court since his friend, who was responsible for the crime, committed suicide. He left the band subsequently, sentenced to five year probation in Las Vegas. Not to sound retrograde and obnoxious, but, in our humble opinion, judiciary considerations aside, Radke’s departure is a shame. Escape The Fate lost its most precious asset and one should know that there is an army of post-hardcore bands that would take the band’s place in a heartbeat. Blessed with a “devious charm” as the band’s publicist put it, the charismatic Ronnie Radke is what set the quintet apart in a sea of bands featuring saturated guitars and high-pitched singers. As a matter of fact, Escape The Fate was a talented band, as shown in the promising There’s No Sympathy For The Dead EP (2007), its first release on Epitaph records; and yes we did use the past tense since its future post-Radke couldn’t be more compromised.
The EP opens with Dragging Dead Bodies in Blue Bags Up Really Long Hills. The song title indeed drags on in what seems to be, depending on how you look at it, a jab at the trend of ridiculously long song titles that once prevailed in the scene. And this is exactly what characterizes Escape The Fate. A blasé listener might accuse the band of only regurgitating the same decades-old heavy metal clichés, never seeing past the tongue-in-cheek face-melting solos and the kitsch metal licks fired off at the speed of light. Sure, the band’s technical skills and boisterous energy largely contribute to their appeal. But beneath the fire and fury reside impressive songwriting skills, as seen in Dragging Dead Bodies’ delicious bridge, with Ronnie Radke chanting Let’s go. We’re on top of the world. The Ransom and As You’re Falling Down, endowed with infectious choruses, further prove that point. The two most hard-hitting songs, The Guillotine, which close the EP in a chaotic battlefield and the cathartic title-track make reappearance on the band’s debut full-length Dying Is Your Latest Fashion (2007), reviewed earlier in the blog, undoubtedly as a result of some pressure from the record label.
“It's awesome, it’s catchy, it’s hard, it’s badass, I don’t know if I can say that but I just did.” – bassist Max Green, on Escape The Fate’s music.
The band’s detractors can talk all they want; the world, okay maybe the scene, undeniably needs fun bands, not in a [insert any act signed by Fueled by Ramen] kind of way but more in a Every Time I Die’s guys night out party music kind of way.
The EP opens with Dragging Dead Bodies in Blue Bags Up Really Long Hills. The song title indeed drags on in what seems to be, depending on how you look at it, a jab at the trend of ridiculously long song titles that once prevailed in the scene. And this is exactly what characterizes Escape The Fate. A blasé listener might accuse the band of only regurgitating the same decades-old heavy metal clichés, never seeing past the tongue-in-cheek face-melting solos and the kitsch metal licks fired off at the speed of light. Sure, the band’s technical skills and boisterous energy largely contribute to their appeal. But beneath the fire and fury reside impressive songwriting skills, as seen in Dragging Dead Bodies’ delicious bridge, with Ronnie Radke chanting Let’s go. We’re on top of the world. The Ransom and As You’re Falling Down, endowed with infectious choruses, further prove that point. The two most hard-hitting songs, The Guillotine, which close the EP in a chaotic battlefield and the cathartic title-track make reappearance on the band’s debut full-length Dying Is Your Latest Fashion (2007), reviewed earlier in the blog, undoubtedly as a result of some pressure from the record label.
“It's awesome, it’s catchy, it’s hard, it’s badass, I don’t know if I can say that but I just did.” – bassist Max Green, on Escape The Fate’s music.The band’s detractors can talk all they want; the world, okay maybe the scene, undeniably needs fun bands, not in a [insert any act signed by Fueled by Ramen] kind of way but more in a Every Time I Die’s guys night out party music kind of way.
