Escape The Fate - Dying Is Your Latest Fashion

[Tom Good]

Escape The Fate - Dying Is Your Latest Fashion
Record Label: Epitaph
Release Date: September 26th, 2006


When I opened up the press packet for the debut album from Escape The Fate, I was greeted by a glossy, full page photograph of 5 guys who look they put a lot of time into their outfits. Following were quotes from front man Ronnie Radke that read:

“It’s gonna happen. Watch. I’m not jokin’. We’re gonna be the biggest thing. So huge. I know it” and “I don’t wanna come off like an asshole. We’re gonna be that change in music. I have a vision”.

Well, Ronnie and Tom Delonge can’t both be correct, so is this going to be the album to change music? With bold claims like that it has to be good, right? Sorry Ronnie, but I think to make promises like that, you have to do something to differentiate yourself from your faux-hardcore scene contemporaries (although he was ousted from the band shortly after the release of this album).

Dying Is Your Latest Fashion is a veritable cornucopia of every stereotype present in the “screamo” genre, but with a twist, it sounds really forced. Screams penetrate the clean vocals, the lyrics are mostly about blood, self deprication and death, and it even packs one of the worst album covers I have seen since Ateryu’s “The Curse” to boot. The guitar riff of “The Webs We Weave”, which opens the album, could have easily been the lead off guitar line of any melodic hardcore band’s cd. Predictable melodies and structure make this track really difficult to remember. “Reverse This Curse” appears to have been influenced musically by early My Chemical Romance except without Way’s charisma and believability. “Cellar Door” experiments with electronic beats but only sounds like a second rate industrial band with emo lyrics. The breakdowns on Dying Is Your Latest Fashion seem to have been inserted in the songs just for the sake of having them and are often the weakest part of the songs. For a perfect example, take one listen to end of “The Guillotine” and try not to giggle once the attempted death metal growls start.

Let’s get something out of the way, which might make you stop reading, but Radke sounds almost identical to From First To Last’s Sonny Moore. It is scary at points how similar they are, even down to the slightest voice crack. So if you are a big fan of Moore, then you will love the vocals on this album. Lyrically though, it might be a different story, with many lines just trying too hard. “Situations” reads more like a porno than a hardcore song with not so subtly sexual lyrics mixed with moans courtesy of Radke. The lyrics only get cheesier from there on out with multiple references to ghosts and funerals just in time for Halloween! The oddly titled acoustic ballad “The Day I Left The Womb” is so forced and nasally sung, it sounds like it even caused Ronnie some pain.

The lack of creativity is really kind of upsetting too because some of the songs on the EP had guilty pleasure written all over them (for some people). The jump to a full length took their formula and diluted it with overproduced vocals and a bland hard-soft formula. However, there are parts of the album that stick out, like the guitar solo in “There’s No Sympathy For The Dead”, which shows some fret board knowledge. There are also some pretty catchy chorus’ that will get stuck in your head despite the lame subject matter. If the band could just channel these moments more consistently, the album would be much more enjoyable.

Radke’s expectations for the success of this album are high, and some of them might be realized due to FFTL’s fan base thinking that Sonny has a new side project, but this album is about as middle of the road as it gets (hence the numerical score). Maybe the band should spend a little more time summoning originality and a little less time on fashion.

Purevolume: http://www.purevolume.com/escapethefate
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/escapethefate

Tracklisting
1 The Webs We Weave
2. When I Go Out, I Want To Go Out On A Chariot Of Fire
3. Situations
4. The Guillotine
5. Reverse The Curse
6. Cellar Door
7. There’s No Sympathy For The Dead
8. My Apocalypse
9. Friends And Alibis
10. Not Good Enough For Truth In Cliché
11. The Day I Left The Womb

[Scott Irvine]

Nice, nice, nice review.

[YourMusicSucks]

Nice to see a strict review.

[Praetor]

“It’s gonna happen. Watch. I’m not jokin’. We’re gonna be the biggest thing. So huge. I know it” and “I don’t wanna come off like an asshole. We’re gonna be that change in music. I have a vision”.

Well, Ronnie and Tom Delonge can’t both be correct, so is this going to be the album to change music? With bold claims like that it has to be good, right? Sorry Ronnie, but I think to make promises like that, you have to do something to differentiate yourself from your faux-hardcore scene contemporaries (although he was ousted from the band shortly after the release of this album).

Great review.

[burningdark]

though i disagree with you in the strongest terms, this is a nice review

[hxcbeauty]

well theyre my favorite band. i have to say their amazing

[xerovision1]

This album has a couple good songs, other than that, it's below mediocre.

[RockChick1993]

Wow, i've never even heard any of their albums yet, but judging from this review, they might as well be one of the most dissed bands in all of 2007 in my opinion!

[adam289]

great review

[cereal4life]

well theyre my favorite band. i have to say their amazing

Haha "hardcore beauty". It really is quite sad to see that a band such as this could be someone's favourite.

Spot on review, this album is faux-hardcore at it's best! haha

[silhouette666]

It's my favorite band too. It's one of the best albums of 2007, but no one knows about it.

Go read my little review here. Then you can get back to me. =]

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=174302&page=5

[silhouette666]

I laugh at this review. Not because its right, its because it sucks.

Hahahahahahaha.

Oh, but The Day I Left The Womb is NOTHING to laugh at. You should at least like THAT song, considering it is acoustic and has a deep meaning behind it. So, I don't give you any respect for that part of the review. You have no heart.

Ronnie is an AMAZING songwriter. You make the album sound like its crap when it is actually good. I think you went to listen to this album with a negative viewpoint anyways. You looked at the guys, thinking "Oh, they spend too much time on their clothes, blah blah blah." Who cares? Maybe they wanna look good too. Be the whole package. They don't look like that all the time, though. In regular pictures of them, they are simply wearing band tees and jeans.

I hate how you're comparing them the My Chemical Romance and From First To Last, because to me they don't sound like each other AT ALL. I don't like either of those bands, but I like Escape The Fate. They don't sound like ANYONE, to me. If they did sound like some sort of band, I'd say the guitars sound like Motley Crue big time.

[Bloody_Lil_Boy]

These guys look like Motley Crue got beat down at Warped Tour.

[Tom Good]

I laugh at this review. Not because its right, its because it sucks.

Hahahahahahaha.

Oh, but The Day I Left The Womb is NOTHING to laugh at. You should at least like THAT song, considering it is acoustic and has a deep meaning behind it. So, I don't give you any respect for that part of the review. You have no heart.

Ronnie is an AMAZING songwriter. You make the album sound like its crap when it is actually good. I think you went to listen to this album with a negative viewpoint anyways. You looked at the guys, thinking "Oh, they spend too much time on their clothes, blah blah blah." Who cares? Maybe they wanna look good too. Be the whole package. They don't look like that all the time, though. In regular pictures of them, they are simply wearing band tees and jeans.

I hate how you're comparing them the My Chemical Romance and From First To Last, because to me they don't sound like each other AT ALL. I don't like either of those bands, but I like Escape The Fate. They don't sound like ANYONE, to me. If they did sound like some sort of band, I'd say the guitars sound like Motley Crue big time. Not living the act you put on is worse than putting all the time into it in the first place. That's my point, they are trying to be like their heroes instead of doing their own thing. I would suggest if you disagree with my review then you write one as well. We put up user reviews every week. I would be interested to read it as I am sure the users of this site would. Write it, I'll even go in and approve it. Not a mini one like the one you posted above, a full two page single spaced review with a score and everything.

;8278052']I agree. Plus Escape the Fate has actually gotten pretty big, despite what the reviewer projected. I seriously doubt whoever wrote this review is nearly as talented as anyone in ETF; let alone a musician at all.Hahaha, really? I actually AM a musician and play guitar, drums and bass. I think just because you don't agree doesn't mean that no one else agrees with me. I said I found nothing fantastic about this album and I still think so. These guys have NOT gotten that huge. Maybe they are huge to you, but that doesn't generalize to anyone else. My opinion is no better than yours, but it's just that, an opinion. I didn't like it, you do, deal with it.

[malfested]

If I were to be totally honest I'd have to admit that I have a slight *coughmajorcough* love affair going on with escape the fate at the moment, however whether this affair is musically justified is a question I'm not willing to ask myself yet ...

Either way, despite disagreeing with the majority of your points, I can see where you are coming from and basically I just wanted to commend you on what I thought was a pretty damn good review of an album which I'd personally liken to marmite.

[Tom Good]

If I were to be totally honest I'd have to admit that I have a slight *coughmajorcough* love affair going on with escape the fate at the moment, however whether this affair is musically justified is a question I'm not willing to ask myself yet ...

Either way, despite disagreeing with the majority of your points, I can see where you are coming from and basically I just wanted to commend you on what I thought was a pretty damn good review of an album which I'd personally liken to marmite.Thank you!

[silhouette666]

Not living the act you put on is worse than putting all the time into it in the first place. That's my point, they are trying to be like their heroes instead of doing their own thing. I would suggest if you disagree with my review then you write one as well. We put up user reviews every week. I would be interested to read it as I am sure the users of this site would. Write it, I'll even go in and approve it. Not a mini one like the one you posted above, a full two page single spaced review with a score and everything.
Deal. I'll start working on it as soon as I can.

[livesformusic]

I love Escape the Fate. I thought this album was very good, myself. I enjoyed it. But i understand where you are coming from with this. And with some parts, I agree. But I must say that Escape The Fate is among my favorites.

[Twizx]

Not going to lie, these dudes shred, but everything you said is pretty much true. Less make-up, less lame song writing, better band.

[Jamos4184]

;8278052']I agree. Plus Escape the Fate has actually gotten pretty big, despite what the reviewer projected. I seriously doubt whoever wrote this review is nearly as talented as anyone in ETF; let alone a musician at all.


You don't have to be a talented musician to be able to review music. Obviously, it helps to be knowledgeable about music, but I would not question Tom's musical knowledge considering he is on staff. I can definitely see the similarities between Ronnie's voice and Sunny's. Those comparisons are thrown out on the new album, as they've replace Ronnie with former Blessthefall vocalist Craig Mabbit. I thought this was a fair review. Good work, Tom

[Bleedingsilver]

This is my favorite band. I don't know what you are talking about "you have to do something to differentiate yourself from your faux-hardcore scene contemporaries" Escape the Fate is 100% unique. Each song has its own meaning. You obviously weren't listening. If you don't get the meaning, that's just because you don't comprehend it, not because it doesn't have one.

[Redrazor66]

Okay.WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!!!! I Cant even fucking believe you would say shit like this. what the hell. Ronnie is way more lyrically inept than you, you stupid fuck. Attempted Death Growls?Do you even realize what it takes to do that?? Their music is beautiful. Just cause you can't relate to the music doesn't mean its not good you idiot. they mean certain things to certain people. So Fuck You. They Are all great musicians and will be around much longer than your sorry ass. i hope you die you fucking idiot. Each song has a seperate meaning. and dont you dare fucking compare FFTL to ETF. they are so much fucking better than FFTL. Ronnie is an amazing vocalist he is twice as good as Sonny. and wtf "Some knowledge of the fretboard"? it takes years to get that good you fuckhead jesus christ just go die you fucking dickmunch!!!!!!!!!

[chelseaxsmilexD]

I laugh at this review. Not because its right, its because it sucks.

Hahahahahahaha.

Oh, but The Day I Left The Womb is NOTHING to laugh at. You should at least like THAT song, considering it is acoustic and has a deep meaning behind it. So, I don't give you any respect for that part of the review. You have no heart.

Ronnie is an AMAZING songwriter. You make the album sound like its crap when it is actually good. I think you went to listen to this album with a negative viewpoint anyways. You looked at the guys, thinking "Oh, they spend too much time on their clothes, blah blah blah." Who cares? Maybe they wanna look good too. Be the whole package. They don't look like that all the time, though. In regular pictures of them, they are simply wearing band tees and jeans.

I hate how you're comparing them the My Chemical Romance and From First To Last, because to me they don't sound like each other AT ALL. I don't like either of those bands, but I like Escape The Fate. They don't sound like ANYONE, to me. If they did sound like some sort of band, I'd say the guitars sound like Motley Crue big time.
i am ghost... hello? are you listening.

[denissuxx]

Solid review

[alicelovesyoux]

not good enough for truth in cliche is the best song on the album!! its soo good :)

[Sabrinaxcore<3]

I like much more heavier bands with more screaming but this is my favorite band so I disagree with Tom 200%

[blahhblahh2]

i think this review is completly wrong etf are a good band with some gr8 songs
ronnie is an awsome vocalist (100 times better than craig)
the breakdowns are most of the time good (although i have to agree about the fail attempt at death metal by max green) i personally think that old etf were gr8 and so was this album i think the 50% rating is quite unfair and tbh should of been around the 65% area if not in the 70's or 80's

[MetalIsThyGod]

nice review

[RadkexLover74]

This review is inaccurate and HORRIBLY untrue. Ronnie Radke is a great musician and he did change music for me. You just have shit for taste in music, obviously. Ronnie has an excellent voice that has emotions and portrays feelings through his song, it is not strained. The screaming parts go perfectly where they place them in their songs and add effect. He is not unoriginal, their lyrics are very original, and so is he. I listen too them every day and never grow tired of them and they relate to many people. He is a great front man, and he often doesnt care about how he looks so yeah. You should spend more time dissing on Max Green or the new frontman Craig Mabbit because since they ridded Ronnie ETF has gone to shit and Ronnies new band WILL over power them. Situations is not a porno song, its a sexy portrayal of what happends to many people, thanks, bye.

[musicfinatic]

I completely disagree with your review. I think everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it is unnecessary to diss an artist like that. Escape the fate happen to have a lot of talent, and despite the fact that you don't see that doesn't mean you have to rudely insult them. A review is supposed to be your own opinion, i get that, but next time you write one i suggest you use a bit more class in putting your viewpoint across.

[RyanDavis2009]

I just laugh my ass off when I read album reviews written by music critiques. They are always negative! Like how can someone talk trash about an album when he or she has never written a song in their lifetime. Let alone a poem. It just makes no sense to me. Who the hell says you can judge music. It is as if I was judging a master chef on his food preparations and telling him they suck. Like how the hell would I know?? So honestly until you write a fucking song, or poem, back the fuck off these artists back and quit this gig bro.

[Spartan789013]

Thank you!
Jesus... Tom you are getting nailed by ETF fans left and right out here. I took a listen to this album, a GOOD HARD listen and I found nothing really special with it. I've heard everything on this CD before it came out. It lacks the unique-ness to be anything truly special.

So I commend you Tom for an accurate review.

And to all those who hate the review, have an open mind about music and check out a bunch of other bands out there. Who knows, you may find new music that can put these guys to shame.

[Spartan789013]

I just laugh my ass off when I read album reviews written by music critiques. They are always negative! Like how can someone talk trash about an album when he or she has never written a song in their lifetime. Let alone a poem. It just makes no sense to me. Who the hell says you can judge music. It is as if I was judging a master chef on his food preparations and telling him they suck. Like how the hell would I know?? So honestly until you write a fucking song, or poem, back the fuck off these artists back and quit this gig bro.
I think Tom just mentioned that he plays 3 instruments (Guitar, Bass and Drums). I'm sure he's written a song before... Also his gig is an album reviewer, just because he doesn't share the same music taste as you doesn't mean he should quit his job over it.

[xx.emma.xx]

I liked this album when I was 13-14 so I can sort of still see the things I liked about it. Enough to consider it bareable.

But honestly, if I listened to this album for the first time today I would hate it. Now I can see how very wrong this album is...

[Dystroxia]

I really didn't like this album. "My Apocalypse" and "There's No Sympathy for the Dead" are the only good tracks.

[EscapeTheFate94]

“The Day I Left The Womb” is so forced and nasally sung, it sounds like it even caused Ronnie some pain."


Well DUH it caused Ronnie some pain. He was singing about how he grew up without his mother. I loved this album-its the best one they've ever made in my opinion.

[Dystroxia]

“The Day I Left The Womb” is so forced and nasally sung, it sounds like it even caused Ronnie some pain."


Well DUH it caused Ronnie some pain. He was singing about how he grew up without his mother. I loved this album-its the best one they've ever made in my opinion.

Jesus, did you just make your account today to say this?

[EscapeTheFate94]

Jesus, did you just make your account today to say this?
haha, no. My best friend told me about the website so I decided to join. Cause music=life to me xD and I love Escape the Fate. This was my fav album. Ronnie has an amazing voice and each song has a diff and unique meaning. I'm pissed that Ronnie got kicked out but his new band kicks ass!

[alexInReverse]

Not living the act you put on is worse than putting all the time into it in the first place. That's my point, they are trying to be like their heroes instead of doing their own thing. I would suggest if you disagree with my review then you write one as well. We put up user reviews every week. I would be interested to read it as I am sure the users of this site would. Write it, I'll even go in and approve it. Not a mini one like the one you posted above, a full two page single spaced review with a score and everything.

Hahaha, really? I actually AM a musician and play guitar, drums and bass. I think just because you don't agree doesn't mean that no one else agrees with me. I said I found nothing fantastic about this album and I still think so. These guys have NOT gotten that huge. Maybe they are huge to you, but that doesn't generalize to anyone else. My opinion is no better than yours, but it's just that, an opinion. I didn't like it, you do, deal with it.

Lol, where's your band? xD I happen to love the old Escape the Fate.

[alexInReverse]

“The Day I Left The Womb” is so forced and nasally sung, it sounds like it even caused Ronnie some pain."


Well DUH it caused Ronnie some pain. He was singing about how he grew up without his mother. I loved this album-its the best one they've ever made in my opinion.

AGREEEEEEED BIG TIME ! thumbs up to you.

[basher5time]

Because I liked This War Is Ours, I decided to give ETF a shot. Their eponymous album was unsatisfying and even though I enjoyed Dying Is Your Latest Fashion, it's only because of the Cliches. Situations was enjoyable beacause it "read like a porno" Even though it does feel out of place.
Decent Album, Great Review