Review Summary: A big ego, Good Instruments, Terrible Lyrics. L one thing.
Ronnie Radke is a name known by many, as an egotistical prick who thinks he runs the scene and that he is the king of music. With a history going from battery to domestic abuse, the musician had fallen into constant hate and instead of being a grown up and dealing with it, he makes an entire album dedicated to 12-17 year old people who don't like him. With the idea of a hate filled album coming from someone as hated as Radke, what a ride this turned out to be.
The album starts off with "Champion" which at the beginning sounds tolerable with a solid heavy aspect, however the second Ronnie joins in at his attempts at 'growling' the intensity is ruined, save for the drums being stable through out the entire song. The song is Ronnie believing to be the champion of the world, and that he has some god given power. His ego is the fuel for this song, and the only redeeming quality of the track is the instrumentals, which FiR never seems to slouch on. Towards the end, Ronnie raps, and it is completely useless to the song however the following breakdown is actually well written, being pretty crisp which is followed by the ending chorus, closing the first disappointment and leading straight to another. "Bad Girls Club" is completely useless to the album, Ronnie claims he was hurt by some girl and she was just like every other girl, and after this abomination comes "Rolling Stone" This track is easily the only redeeming factor of the album, focusing on how he is putting his all into his music and that the price might be being hated and standing on his own. The instrumentals are strong and the vocals are stronger then the rest of the album. The song ends with a rap passage which returns to the egotistical part of Ronnie, followed by a powerful chorus.
Next are the three singles "Fashionably Late" which is a disney song of Ronnie banging all his girlfriend's friends, "Alone" which is Ronnie talking *** to all his haters, sounding pathetic in his attempts. "Born To Lead" is homage to Dragonforce but to a weaker extent, showing very sloppy and choppy playing. "It's Over When It's Over" is more of a classic Ronnie song, tracing back to his roots save for the few bits of rap in the song, which fans might enjoy. The lyrics aren't too egotistical giving it more of an uplifting feel, making it's way into the top 3 of the album. "Game Over" is just Ronnie trying to play on Mario, writing everything about how the past is gone and people need to let go. The lyrics are actually tolerable and at times they sound refined however the failed dubstep beat takes away from this and leaves it terribly unappealing. "Self Destruct Personality" is the final song on the album worth listening to, Ronnie is talking about his own personality, but he doesn't seem to sound sad about it more saying it's the way he was meant to be. The vocals aren't ear cringing and the rap passage isn't too bad, showing Ronnie has a strong side throughout this album. The solo on this song made by Jacky Vincent is very well written, giving some hope into the band.
The rest of the album follow this lead, but at times to a more well rounded sense. With a weak lyrical structure, but with some interesting parts and some instrumental creativity this band has a back bone to it, however with Ronnie in the band the band is prone to need surgery in the near future. With a debut that was close to the original Ronnie we all at one point loved, Fashionably Late was kind of a let down
