Escape the Fate

Personnel: Monte Money (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Craig Mabbitt (vocals); Robert Ortiz (drums); Bart Hendrickson (programming).
Audio Mixers: Chris Lord-Alge; Andrew Schubert; Brad Townsend.
Recording information: NRG Recording, North Hollywood, CA; Studio Can-Am, Tarzana, CA.
Photographer: P.R. Brown.
Serving as a kind of reintroduction to the band, Escape the Fate's third album, the eponymous Escape the Fate, draws a line between the group's beginnings and its new life on a major label. Stepping up to the big leagues (in this case, Geffen) has definitely had an impact on Escape the Fate's sound. They worked with Linkin Park producer Don Gilmore here, resulting in their slickest and most "produced"-sounding album to date, with lots of electronic ambience and editing tricks working together to craft a highly polished yet darkly foreboding atmosphere. Helping to cultivate this ominous feeling is a shift in the band's songwriting. While Escape the Fate are still an incredibly tight band, these songs feel like they're more about impact than melody, with more of a focus on heavy, hard rock riffs than the tried and true driving pop harmonies of their first two albums. Fortunately for their fans, Escape the Fate handle change well, tweaking things enough that they sound fresh, but not so much that they're completely unrecognizable from the band they used to be, creating a new listening experience for fans both new and old. ~ Gregory Heaney