The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Don’t You Fake It
Virgin Records
Listen up power-punk and Warped Tour fans! The best band on the bill this year may be on the main stage, but they won’t have the strangest name. That belongs to The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. They combine intense, driving guitars with honest heart-on-sleeve lyrics (along with the occasional well-placed scream) to make one of the catchiest, adrenaline-pumping debuts recently. Don’t You Fake It is a 45 minute tour-de-force that doesn’t let up the intensity until the last scream fades away.
“In Fate’s Hands” starts out the album with an instantly moshable hit, and is one of the best tracks on here, complete with chantable “heys” and several tempo changes from alterna-pop to straight metal.
The first single, “Face Down” is easily the best song on the album. It’s so easy to sing/scream-along with that you almost forget that it’s about an abusive relationship.
The rest of the album is good, but not great. They alternate from driving rock (“Atrophy” and “Seventeen Ain’t So Sweet”) to flat-out boring (“Cat and Mouse”) to an epic ending with “Your Guardian Angel” and the secret song afterwards.
Don’t You Fake It is an album that is sure to get heads bobbin’, mosh pits started and vocal chords strained. Although it is far from perfect, it is their debut and they’ve had several line-up changes in the past couple of years. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus will be around for a while. Now it’s up to them to decide whether they are going to be great or just good enough.
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus: http://www.redjumpsuit.com
