MAKE ME FAMOUS — It's Now or Never (review)

MAKE ME FAMOUS — It's Now or Never album cover

Album · 2012 · Metalcore

1/5 · 2012-04-23
Wilytank

Although people have told me it's healthier to not have an elitist sense of metal superiority, it's hard not to give the middle finger to many of the designated "mallcore" acts out there. Make Me Famous is the latest iteration of fresh new mallcore material to satiate the mallcore fans who believe that it isn't trendy enough to like Asking Alexandria or A Day to Remember anymore, or rather Attack Attack! since Make Me Famous wants to work off the trancecore angle Attack Attack! were using.

As most of you know now, the term "mallcore" is used mainly as a derogatory term. Unfortunately, Make Me Famous makes absolutely no effort shed the cliches that defined the derogatory term. They've got a stupid band name; stupid song titles like "Blind Date 101", "This Song Is Blacker Than Black Metal" (your fellow countrymen Nokturnal Mortum and Drudkh would like a word with you), "Once You Killed A Cow, You Gotta Make A Burger", "ifyuocnaraedtihsmkaemeasnadwich"; and that stereotypical look the band members have: straightened hair, revealing shirts, and skinny jeans.

Actually, if I didn't notice the different band name, I'd say 'It's Now or Never' is actually Attack Attack!'s newest album, failing to realize that Attack Attack! released an album in 2012 as well. So much got carried over that the only real distinction that Make Me Famous has is that the lyrics in 'It's Now or Never' are WORSE than Attack Attack!'s lyrics ever were. They still read like angst-ridden love letters, but Attack Attack! looks incredibly mellow in comparison to Make Me Famous' approach: every song's lyrics here is basically the same message as "You made me feel bad! Now I kill you, bitch!" If there's something I hate as much as angst-ridden lyrics, it's pseudo tough guy lyrics; and combining the two does not make either of them more bearable. As for the delivery, there's nothing that makes Make Me Famous special here. The vocalist mixes guttural harsh vocals with clean vocals that sound like he tried to audition for High School Musical. Musically, there's no outstanding qualities here. Lots of repeated chugging on one note, faster (mostly mid-paced) sections that aren't any more impressing, and overuse of that damn keyboard!

And the worst thing about having these electronic influences it that they almost fucking work! I've been impressed by a good amount of the material that Japanese melodic trance death metal act Blood Stain Child has put out as well as the Russian industrial metal/electronic/ambient project Senmuth's EBM material. But even in the metalcore setting, there's also Born of Osiris, who have put a decent amount of attention in the guitar work to make the keyboard use seem acceptable; having them not sound like a rave party also helps. The keyboards should be used as a booster for the music's atmosphere, not an accessory to wave around like your "swag".

At the end of the day, we have a very big mess of an album here. 'It's Now or Never' is not worth a damn to check out, and the only reason why I'm not putting it in the bottom tier of my ranking system is that it almost worked. But there's just way too many things wrong with it to justify giving it any proper praise.