Escape The Fate – ‘I Am Human’ (Album Review)

I don’t do what I do to be a dick, and write nasty words about bands all day. When I hear new music – even from a band I haven’t been into in the past – I always hope it’s going to be epic. In the past, I was never a huge Escape The Fate fan – but I went into the review process for I Am Human with my fingers crossed, completely prepared to change my tune and hail this album as a masterpiece, if I could justify saying that.

“Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft is an incredible shredder”

As far as the lead guitar work scattered throughout I Am Human goes…fuck yes. Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft is an incredible shredder, drawing heavily on the twin influences of Dragonforce and Avenged Sevenfold and fully prepared to melt your face. His contributions can’t be faulted – and as far as great riffs go, Do You Love Me, Recipe For Disaster, and Digging My Own Grave contain some badass moments.

Advance single Empire is also awesome – but honestly, that point comes nine tracks into an album that is mostly just not good. Since its influence crops up repeatedly, it’s worth pointing out that emo was done to death a decade ago, and lyrics about walking away, feeling “a little crazy lately”, and not being sure whether or not someone loves you are as generic as it gets. Title track I Am Human feels straight up dishonest – lead guitar aside, this album has been carefully crafted to fit in with every possible current rock/metal trend, so to be singing about proud nonconformity and defiance in that context makes no sense whatsoever.

The problem with albums that directly rip off legendary bands is that they can’t keep you engaged for more than one listen before you head off to listen to, say, Dragonforce, A7X, or Mötley Crüe instead. As Escape The Fate’s latest draws to a close, Resistance offers a last glimpse at what could have been before Let Me Be signs off with some plain pop-rock that might be interpreted as Escape The Fate testing their songwriting skills, but in the big picture is just another generic track that offers nothing new.

I Am Human could have been the album that saw Escape The Fate eclipse their critics and transcend the boundaries of heavy music – and given how many wasted opportunities for greatness it contains, I wish it had been. But instead, it’s just going to give the haters enough ammunition to write these guys off for good.

LTK RATING: 60%

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I Am Human drops March 30 – pre-order it on iTunes here.