Album Reviews

Album Review: Falling In Reverse ‘Just Like You’

By  | 

Having been two years since the release of their sophomore album, Fashionably Late, Falling In Reverse is ready to finally provide their fans with their new album, Just Like You. Although the album has been at fans disposal since the 17th on fallinginreverse.com, the album will finally be released on iTunes this Tuesday, February 24th.

Although the band’s heavy rock influence is a bit different than the music you’d normally hear on the radio, Falling In Reverse has managed to get both of their previous albums in the top 20 of the Billboard 200. We have a feeling this album will be no different.

Lead Singer Ronnie Radke uses Just Like You to pour his heart out about some of the personal tribulations he has battled through over the last two years.

The album opens with Chemical Prisoner, which begins with heavy guitar influence, followed by hard drum beats. One of the cool things about this song is the ‘More Than A Feeling’-esque guitar solo about two and a half minutes in. Lyrically, the song talks about someone succumbing to old habits, and not being able to handle that person when they are a “chemical prisoner”.

Another example of Radke’s personal, yet super relatable lyrics, is the second track God, If You Are Above… The question everyone goes throughout life wondering is what was I put on this Earth to do? Radke explains his own search for the meaning of life with the lyrics,”The spirit’s stuck between two roads/ and waiting there on me/the first path is the way to go/the life I wanna lead/the second roads my crazy path/the darkest ones I try to mask/the drugs, the guns, the lies the lows/the dreams I had, I’m waking up!”

Sexy Drug busts out the gate with a really catchy beat. This is the first song on the album that you really get to hear Ronnie push his voice to the limit with his incredible wails combined with the undeniable rasp of his voice. This is definitely one of my favorite songs so far.

The title track, Just Like That, leaves behind the heavy guitars and drum beats for a bit. Think, My Own Worst Enemy by Lit, but the Falling In Reverse way. Radke utilizes this song to pick himself apart piece by piece to let someone know they shouldn’t get to close to him. Oh Ronnie, don’t you know? Sometimes when you tell people all the things that are negative about you, it makes them want to pursue you more? The track Get Me Out utilizes the same kind of appealing lyrics and lighthearted beats to get it’s meaningful point across about getting out of the town you grew up in to follow your dreams.

Guillotine IV (The Final Chapter) brings back the powerful guitars and fast drum beats, as well as showcases Radke’s signature screaming voice. Once the chorus starts, the catchy harmonies combined with forceful guitar riffs, make this song definitely another favorite of mine. Similarly, The Bitter End and Die For You use intense guitars to introduce the song.

Radke wrote the album’s sixth track, Stay Away, to warn everyone around him that he may not be the same guy that he once was, and things are pretty difficult for him, so the easiest thing to do to help him would be just to stay away. The chorus says: Stay away, this is your last warning/I am not the same/Please do not adore me/It’s not your fault, what have I done?/Who can I trust?/I don’t belong here/I’m dying/I lost my way again/Stay away from me.

Wait and See and My Heart’s To Blame are the album’s frontrunners for most unique sounding. Wait and See starts out sounding kind of like Fall Out Boy’s My Song’s Know What You Did in the Dark, but then, much like a bulldozer smashing into the side of a brick wall, you get slammed with the Falling In Reverse guitars that you just can’t deny. The song zeros in on what Radke thinks the world will be like in a few years if we keep doing things the way we’re doing them. My Heart’s To Blame features a few more bells and whistles than the other songs on the album, hence why it makes it one of the most unique. With synth sounds in the beginning of the song it immediately draws the listener in.

The album’s last track, Brother, is by far the most personal and the most powerful. By using just a piano and his haunting vocals, Radke shares with the world his own way of coping with the tragic death of his brother.

PLEASE do yourself a favor and get this album when it comes out tomorrow. Falling In Reverse never disappoints!