ESCAPE THE FATE | I Am Human | Album Review

Escape The Fate have been reigning tall as one of the bigger bands of the post-hardcore/metalcore ilk since the mid 2000's, and that's even though they've sailed through controversy after the notorious actions of the band's previous lead singer who will remain nameless for now. It has been very clear that Escape The Fate has been moving on a lot stronger since 2008 with former Blessthefall vocalist Craig Mabbit with some passable albums like the self-titled and "Hate Me". While none of their albums, including the material that signifies the highlights of the group, have really blown me away, especially "Ungrateful" from 2013, Escape The Fate have proved to many people that they are consistent enough with their material and show no signs of slowing down. Now in 2018 comes the sixth album from the band entitled "I Am Human", which was strangely pushed back from its mid February release date in order to officially be released at the end of March. Talking in interviews before the album, Craig Mabbit has given some insight on the overall tone of the album stating, "We're getting older and we're changing, so our music should change with us. At the same time, we rediscovered what made us who were are. I felt like I was 17 years old again." He eventually goes on to state that he hasn't been as excited to release a new album since "The War Is Ours", his first album with the band. It is proven that the band is excited to release something they feel  represents who they are as musicians, but how does that translate across 14 tracks and over 45 minutes of music? 

To be honest, I didn't really pay attention to this album as I probably should have in terms of its pre-released stuff as it didn't really peak my interest. However, I did listen to two tracks off of "I Am Human" before its release, those being "Empire" and "Digging My Own Grave". Both tracks have different characteristics to them, one of them being decent enough for radio play while one catering a whole lot more to the metalcore crowd. "Digging My Own Grave" is the latter and I feel like this track may cater to many more of the fans of the earlier material due to its sections with aggressive guitar riffs and double kick drums. This appears to have a lot more teeth and aggression than anything this band has ever done, but I feel like the track meanders a little bit in terms of how it's structured. It is one of the stronger tracks on the album, but it still doesn't have a lot going for it other than the heavy verses that connect to choruses that would fit OK on radio. The other single "Empire" has a decent flow to it including sections before the chorus that are toned down in order to launch listeners into a high, but doesn't offer anything lyrically at all talking mostly about parties and typical "cheers to the [fill in the blank]" lyrics. It's sort of awkward. As problematic as these tracks are, there is still some proof that the band still has some positive qualities to them such as a good vocal performance from Craig Mabbit and solid guitarwork, but it's not used to creative great ideas. 

What's very troubling is that the rest of the album follows in much of the exact same vein as these two tracks with almost a bare bones minimum amount of appeal. The album opener "Beautifully Tragic" should not have been the track to kick this album off as it makes this album feel much more like it was ripped onto a blank CD or Spotify playlist that was intentionally shuffled, and although there is decent guitar soloing, it still feels generic. Then, we get into the following tracks like "Broken Heart", "Four Letter Word", and the title track, and we get stuff that sounds even more generic and tailored for radio than before. Some of these tracks have a slew of decent ideas and some of them sound fine like "Four Letter Word", but structurally and lyrically, you could switch these tracks with a myriad of songs currently impacting radio, and the lines would blur to the point to where you'd feel like you are blind. Keep in mind the fact that this album is 14 tracks, and it even gets worse with tracks like "Recipe For Disaster" sounding like a nu-metal reject that all of the bad bands from that era would even scoff at, and tracks like "Riot" and "Resistance" which are some of the most try-hard, local band sounding piles of garbage I've heard in a long time, especially "Riot" which could possibly be one of the worst songs I have heard this year. Even the album closer, "Let Me Be" is unlistenable in the fact that it sounds like something Plain White Ts or One Direction wrote, but it has a misplaced guitar solo and countless "whoa-oh-ohs" that would instantly send it off to the Woah-itis Mental Ward in a heartbeat.

Only two tracks on this album reveal themselves to be something worth listening to. "Do You Love Me" which does have the generic lyrics that the other tracks have, but actually has a creative guitar riff and some good soloing, and "If Only", which is probably the best song on the album. It's an all acoustic track that does have some passion behind it and actually tries to push in some lyrics that while not thought provoking, actually showcase some honesty and appeal to merit repeated listens. Other than that, I don't see a single bit of appeal here. The band definitely does show some passion in their craft, but the tracks that resulted from these recording and writing sessions are, for the most part, anything but good. While only a few tracks are awful on this album, "I Am Human" doesn't really have much motivation behind it, or at least that's the illusion these tracks are giving off. If you like Escape The Fate, I bet you'll probably like this album, but I don't think you'll consider this their best work. For non-fans who only casually listen to the band, then I advise you to look elsewhere. Escape The Fate may have rediscovered their beginnings, and kudos to them, but "I Am Human" is not lucky in escaping its fate of predictable and at times face-palming mediocrity. 

RATING: 3/10

What did you think about the record? Was it good? Was it bad? Let me know in the comments below. And of course, these are only my opinions. If your opinions are different, awesome! If they're similar, then that's great, too. So, don't hesitate- comment to me about it down below. Take care.