Album Review: Falling In Reverse - Fashionably Late

21 June 2013 | 9:58 pm | Pete Laurie

If you’re a 13-year-old girl going through a bad boy phase, you might get a few listens out of this before you’re embarrassed to own it. If not, save some cash and just drop $1.69 on Born To Lead.

More Falling In Reverse More Falling In Reverse

What happens when 'heavy' and 'edgy' are watered down in an attempt to appeal to tweens? Fashionably Late from Falling in Reverse happens, that's what. While vocalist Ronnie Radke is pushing thirty, his lyrics sound like a middle-aged man writing the way he thinks 'cool kids' talk. Radke's so hip and now, he calls shoes 'sneaks'. Bag Girls Club is the worst offender, all poppy synths, Avril Lavigne-style bad grrrl 'heys' and references to Twitter, hash tags and Google. Lyrically, Fashionably Late is on the cutting edge of 2010. 

It's a strange combination of aggressive riffage and pop so sickly sweet it might give you diabetes. Rolling Stone is a perfect example: speed metal growl one minute giving way to Good Charlotte-esque melodies the next. Fashionably Late is not without its good points, though. Born To Lead is a pretty amazing showcase of the band's musical talents, the tour de force solo making the rest of the album seem worse in comparison.

Half of Fashionably Late sounds like a mildly successful metal band that got sick of being broke and tried to make a pandering mainstream hit record. The other half sounds like kids playing pretend at being a heavy rock band. The closing lyrics of Alone really encapsulate the depth they have to offer with a random, context free declaration of, “Yo, 2013 motherfuckers. Falling in Reverse”. Unfortunately, that really does say it all. If you're a 13-year-old girl going through a bad boy phase, you might get a few listens out of this before you're embarrassed to own it. If not, save some cash and just drop $1.69 on Born To Lead.