Escape the Fate Broaden Their Horizons With New Album, ‘I Am Human’
By Cameron Martinez
Crashing through the wall of rock n’ roll is Escape the Fate, a rock outfit out of Las Vegas, Nevada with a steaming history involving ex-front man, Ronnie Radke, and current singer, Craig Mabbitt. The two recently made amends, and both men are back to doing what they do best: creating lasting music.
Since Escape the Fate’s 2015 release ‘Hate Me’, there has been a label change, and the band is releasing ‘I Am Human’ with Better Noise Records, stating the reason for the change in labels since their album ‘Ungrateful’ is due to wanting more creative control over their music.
From the beginning, traditional fans of the band will notice the new record is not quite as heavy as what they are used to. The band have decided to take a softer, more melodic approach this time around, exploring roots in emo, pop, and punk rock. This comes as no surprise since in a recent interview, Craig Mabbitt states that, “We’re getting older, and we’re changing—so our music should change with us,” making it appear this change in sound was solely the decision of the band. They rediscovered who they are, and Mabbitt explained he hasn’t been this excited about putting out a record since his first album with the band, ‘This War Is Ours’ (a personal favorite of mine.)
While the change in sound may be polarizing for already established fans of the band, the passion behind the album is clearly evident. The lyrics appear more personal than ever as the band leans towards more of a clean singing heavy balance than ever before. The band takes advantage of this new writing approach, though, as they come out with some of their catchiest tunes to front load this album, even if the subject matter is more on the dark side. From track titles spanning “Broken Heart” and “I Will Make It Up To You”, there’s obviously a theme of love and loss throughout the record, making it very relatable to a broader audience.
ETF also create two super-charged anthems on ‘I Am Human’, one being the title track and the other being named “Empire”, two songs to which you will find yourself unable to stop singing along. Both songs seem to attract a younger audience, though, as they talk about discovering who you really are and accepting it (“I Am Human”) and living a crazy lifestyle (“Empire”).
And on the back end of ‘I Am Human’ is where traditional fans of the band will find solace. From “Recipe For Disaster” on, we get some raging rock tracks with soaring guitar riffs and that deep growl of Mabbitt’s that people have grown to love. The band spent the last couple of years developing an all-around album. They are able to cater to older fans while exploring new territory and attracting new ones as well, not to mention they created two anthems that will probably play a part in defining the rock genre for 2018, making it an album that should definitely be on your rock radar.
7/10
Listen to “I Am Human”, “Riot”, “Digging My Own Grave”