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CD review: Falling in Reverse’s ‘Fashionably Late’

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Annie Zaleski

Two and a half stars

Falling In Reverse's Fashionably Late

For Ronnie Radke, even a successful debut record with Falling in Reverse (The Drug in Me Is You) didn’t prevent his personal life from overshadowing his music—be it an arrest for domestic assault or the birth of his baby girl. But as evidenced by a savage Vice article eviscerating the band’s new single/video (the hip-hop-influenced “Alone”), Falling in Reverse’s music is just as polarizing. That won’t change with uneven sophomore effort Fashionably Late, which augments the band’s familiar metalcore-with-a-pop-heart (the Fall Out Boy-recalling title track, the drilling, metal-punk standout “Born to Lead”) with glitchy electronic flourishes, hip-hop swagger, country-influenced instrumentation and, on “Keep Holding On,” piano and strings. Some of these musical progressions work surprisingly well (and Radke is actually a decent rapper), but Fashionably Late’s weaker moments—the bratty, misogynistic electro-pop chant “Bad Girls Club,” constant references to Twitter and the awkward video game metaphors and sound effects on “Game Over”—are cringe-inducing.

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