Escape the Fate

I'm going to get opinionated today, more so than usual, in a negative way I suppose. I'm going to talk about a band called Escape the Fate. 

In 2004, Escape the Fate was formed in Las Vegas Nevada by Ronnie Radke (vocals), Max Green (bass), Robert Ortiz (drums), Bryan Money (lead guitar), Carson Allen (keyboard), and Omar Espinosa (rhythm guitar). They got their big break, so to speak, when they won a radio contest in 2005 that was judged by My Chemical Romance (yay!).  Their prize was to open for MCR, Alkaline Trio, and Reggie and the Full Effect.  In 2006, after signing with Epitaph records, they released There's No Sympathy For The Dead (EP), whereafter Allen left the band. Later that year, they released the full length album Dying Is Your Latest Fashion.  To add to their declining members, Espinosa left during the 2007 Black on Black tour for personal reasons. Then things got messy. 

Radke had been running into some trouble with the law for narcotics and was involved in a fight that left Michael Cook dead. Radke was sentenced to prison and was asked to leave Escape the Fate. Now he's in the band Falling in Reverse and was released from prison on December 12, 2010.

You obviously can't go on without a lead singer, so Craig Mabbitt started filling in for the band and was asked to stay on as the permanent lead singer. In 2008, they released The War Is Ours. Now that they didn't have the tour restrictions because of Radke's track record, they could complete a full tour and did so with bands like Attack Attack!, Atreyu, Black Tide, and on tours like Bamboozle. They even made it on Rock Band with "The Flood".  After several tours and success, they released a video for "The War Is Ours" on April 2, 2010.  

It's true that they've stepped it up. They've worked with big names on their albums like Mick Mars of Motley Crue and have toured worldwide.  They moved to Interscope Records in 2010, the label that would release their self titled album on November 2, 2010. They have a video for the song "Issues" from said album.  They just wrapped up their first headlining tour, The Dead Masquerade, with Alesana and Motionless in White. They have dozens of shows lined up for the coming months which can be found here.

My personal opinion? They've lost their magic. Without Ronnie, as crazy as he was, the band just doesn't have the same flavor to me. I don't think Craig is as good of a fit. I liked him a lot in Blessthefall, but I think they've upgraded by choosing Beau Bokan. ETF was totally rock n roll before, and they still are now, but its just...muffled? It's hard to put what I want to say into words but they just aren't as awesome. When I first heard "The Flood" I was unimpressed. But I guess nothing can compare to "Situations", at least not for me. Check out the video here, and you'll see what I mean. It just embodies the whole girls and rockstars vibe, playing off of Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher". Craig is just more metal-ly to me, and plus I think he's gone a bit overboard with the long hair and gages as of late. "Issues" is a little cheesy to me. I know that Craig opened up a lot of doors for them. They're incredibly famous and better off in the long run. But in the end, I'm just not that into it.