![]() “Lyrically, a lot of these tracks are based around the hate we’ve received over the years and just embracing that and using it to our own advantage,” says Mabbitt. Perhaps most crucially though, there is an abiding sense that this is Escape The Fate at their most bruisingly motivated. The end result of this hard fought creative battle is a collection of songs spilling over with stadium-wrecking hooks, as well as a significant slice of the jackhammer punch fans of the band have come to know and love. ![]() And what’s great is that the guys gave me all the support I needed - it’s been one of the most free and enjoyable writing environments I’ve ever enjoyed.” I tried to take everything I’d learnt over all the years of playing and pour it all into these songs. “Having been a session player for years but always loving this band’s output, there was a responsibility on my shoulders to prove myself. “I wanted to show exactly what I can do,” explains the axe-man. Indeed, for new new blood Thrasher - both playing and writing extensively on his first Escape The Fate album, it has been an opportunity to really earn his stripes. I won’t lie, it was stressful at times, but he is a great producer - you only need to look at his track record to see that!” “From technique to tone, he fine-tuned everything we were doing and made sure we were giving 110%. “He’s a master at looking at a song and picking out the smallest details of what could be improved but doing so in a way which makes sense for the overall tone of the record.” “He challenged me more than anyone ever has in a studio environment,” concurs Thrasher. “He pushed us incredibly hard to expand ideas beyond where we initially thought they could go,” says TJ. ![]() I actually wish we hadn’t done a self-titled album already because I think this is our most definitive statement yet.”Ī significant part of fine-tuning statement has been the introduction of Grammy nominated producer Howard Benson (Papa Roach, My Chemical Romance, Mötörhead) to proceedings. We’re the most unified as a team I think we’ve ever been, certainly in my history in the band. “We have all worked on lyrics, all contributed to the songwriting process. There’s probably half a decade’s work wrapped up in this thing!” “It has been a real team effort this time around,” continues Mabbitt. “There are songs on this record that I’ve worked on in private for years but have only just come to fruition. “We wrote probably 50 or so songs in total,” explains Thrasher. Indeed, with the group (completed by drummer Robert Ortiz and guitarists Thomas "TJ" Bell and Kevin "Thrasher" Gruft) now blessed with the most stable and creatively fertile line up they’ve enjoyed in years, Escape The Fate are gearing up to show the world the scale of the talents that, in truth, they have long possessed. We came to this kind of ‘who cares what people think of us’ realization this time around - we’re amplifying everything that we love about this band in all directions and it has been incredibly liberating.” The heaviest songs are the heaviest we’ve ever written, and the poppy songs are the poppiest we’ve ever done. “Sonically, we’ve always been a diverse band who have everything from ballads to really heavy songs - and our fans expect that - but I think on this album we’ve gone full force with it. A remarkable statement given the last two ETF records gatecrashed the Billboard top 30. “This new album is, without any question in my mind, the best thing that has ever borne the Escape The Fate name, by a distance,” enthuses frontman Craig Mabbitt with no hint of hesitation. ![]() Yet after releasing their fifth, and arguably most significant studio album to date, the upcoming chapters of the Vegas quartet’s career not only look bright, but are set to resolutely be their best yet. When a band has had as storied and, at times, controversial a first decade in the limelight as Escape The Fate, there is often a temptation to focus on that past, rather than concentrating on the future.
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