Escape the Fate

There's No Sympathy for the Dead (2006)

Matt_Whelihan

With Escape the Fate, Epitaph continue the trend they started with bands like From First to Last, Day of Contempt, and Matchbook Romance. That means that There's No Sympathy for the Dead fits into the new school of emo/screamo/metalcore. If you can imagine Atreyu with a Drive-Thru Records singer, you should start to get the picture.

For the most part, Escape the Fate come off sounding pretty generic. They bring together big metal-riffed intros, melodic verses, double-bass breakdowns covered in Cookie Monster shouts, and lyrics about love that more often than not relate to violence, blood, flames, and death. What sets them apart from contemporaries is the presence of more metal moments. The band's guitarists are able to craft some pretty solid riffs while their solos sound like they've been listening to Avenged Sevenfold's latest record on repeat. Still, sometimes, like on "The Ransom," the band merely sound like they are trying to follow in the footsteps of Hawthorne Heights and Underoath by penning the next big arena-screamo single.

For being metal-influenced screamo, Escape the Fate's EP is not bad. They've made it clear via soaring solos and speedy riffs that they've got the chops, now they just need to find a way to serve them up so that they don't always sound quite so familiar.