DON’T YOU FAKE IT - RED JUMPSUIT APPARATUS
Florida screamo outfit the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus produces a sound beyond its barely twentysomething years on its major-label debut. As seemingly dictated by the genre of choice, it’s heavy on melodic verses, tempered with choruses delivered as though sung by some screaming angel of death. But RJA twists the plot a bit, sprinkling in a surprising dollop of major-chord rock vigor. There are even unironic hand claps in “False Pretense” as well as pretty monster ballads in “Cat and Mouse” and “Guardian Angel.” But the record hinges on “Face Down,” which belies its carbonated riff to spin a darkly moving tale of domestic abuse. “Do you feel like a man when you push her around?” Ronnie Winter sings, signaling that while RJA is being pitched toward the emo set, its aspirations reach higher. Billboard
