Falling In Reverse frontman Ronnie Radke is a habitual courter of controversy. Whether he’s busy making new entries on his somewhat extensive rap sheet, engaging in mud-slinging with his former bandmates in Escape the Fate, or alienating fans of his current project, Falling In Reverse, by jettisoning their metalcore roots for an awkward collage of dub step and hip-hop influences, his actions are never subtle.
But recently Radke has been on a roll of breaking bad habits. He hasn’t exactly cleaned himself up –- Falling In Reverse’s latest effort, Just Like You, is as lewd and filled with schoolboyish punchlines as we’ve come to expect from a Radke project — but he’s ditched his recidivist delinquent streak and even reconciled with his former band, embarking on a joint tour aptly titled the Bury The Hatchet Tour.
Just Like You is essentially a token of Radke’s strides to better himself as a human being, by effectively sticking to what made him such a troubled figure in the first place. Just Like You is easily Falling In Reverse’s most cohesive effort to date, which could again serve as a metaphor for Radke’s clearer headspace in 2015.
“This song is about a person I can’t live with… or live without,” Radke recently told Alternative Press of the track ‘Sexy Drug’. “I hope people understand that I am hopelessly romantic, but tend to not always show it in a ‘politically correct’ manner.” In fact, Radke is almost compulsively incorrect, which is saying something for a genre that is always teetering precariously on the edge of bad taste.
“Sexy girl, I just fell in love / You should try it, it’s a hell of a drug / Like oh-em-gee, you make me come, come, come clean” – whatever your standards of taste may be, it’s clear that Radke doesn’t think twice about throwing caution to the wind. He’s got something to express, and whether it’s coming from his heart or his crotch, he’s gonna let it out.
While lyrics such as this would be considered crass and even dim witted to you or I, it’s part of what engenders Radke and Falling In Reverse to their fans – Radke speaks their language. His lexicon is their lexicon. They relate to his pathology, including his long list of neuroses, far more than any other artist who may be held in a higher critical esteem.
There aren’t too many profundities to be found on other cuts either, such as catchy and soaring opener ‘Chemical Prisoner’, which offers fans a rather blunt metaphor for Radke’s former drug addiction, the breakdown-heavy ‘Guillotine IV’, or the propulsive edge of ‘God If You Are Above’, which is packed with snaking riffs and some truly compelling moments of introspection.
The band plays with equal parts skill and flair, providing Radke with the perfect sounbed for his high-flying vocals, and injecting a breath of much-needed fresh air into the band’s old sound, which was all but beaten to death with 2013’s Fashionably Late, which was marked by rather unwelcome experimentation in the fields of hip-hop and electronica.
Only time will tell just how closed the troubled chapter of Radke’s life is, but if Just Like You is any indication, it seems Radke has managed to channel the habits that once manifested themselves as self-destruction into something that is not only constructive, but a genuinely enjoyable listen that will provide fans of Radke and post-hardcore with many a repeated listen.
Falling In Reverse’s latest album, ‘Just Like You’, is out Friday, 20th February. The band will soon be in the country for Soundwave 2015 and a series of sideshows with Escape The Fate. Pre-order the album here: www.fallinginreverse.com.
Soundwave Festival 2015
Saturday, 21st February & Sunday, 22nd February 2015
Bonython Park, Adelaide, South Australia
Tickets: Soundwave
Saturday, 21st February & Sunday, 22nd February 2015
Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Victoria
Tickets: Soundwave
Saturday, 28th February & Sunday, 1st March 2015
Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales
Tickets: Soundwave
Saturday, 28th February & Sunday, 1st March 2015
RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane, Queensland
Tickets: Soundwave
