Additional information
Personnel: Tyler Smyth (guitar, programming); Michael "Elvis" Baskette (guitar). Audio Mixer: Michael "Elvis" Baskette. Recording information: Grandmaster Recorders, Hollywood, CA; NRG Recording, North Hollywood, CA; Studio Barbarosa, Orlando, FL. Keeping in line with the band's past stylistic shifts, Coming Home, the fourth set from Falling in Reverse, is another shift in trajectory. Taking the template from their metalcore debut and the production flourishes from Just Like You, album number four strikes a solid balance that is tailor-made for the wide range of tastes in an average Warped Tour crowd. Less brutal than Motionless in White and more melodic like Hands Like Houses or late-era Bring Me the Horizon, Coming Home also includes faint hints of more veteran bands like the Used ("Loser"), Silversun Pickups (indeed, on the "Panic Switch"-swiping "The Departure"), and pop-punk vets blink-182 and Simple Plan ("Paparazzi"), creating an exciting blend of styles that prevents the collection from ever seeming stagnant or indistinguishable. Matured -- however slightly -- and focused, Coming Home is an FiR production, but it's still the Ronnie Radke show. While his personality has managed to overshadow much of the band's history, he's also the primary draw that has kept fans devoted and patient, especially considering the cringe-worthy sophomore misstep, Fashionably Late. Given their track record, this is a surprisingly listenable and emotive album, layering a wall of guitars, pounding drums, atmospheric textures, and a decent mix of bloody screaming and gang choruses. The lineup for this release -- guitarists Derek Jones and Christian Thompson, bassist Zakk Sandler, and drummer Ryan Seaman -- creates a cohesive base for Radke's musings. Whether he's showing genuine vulnerability on the expansive title track (dedicated to his young daughter) or flipping both fingers to his critics ("Right Now"), Radke lets it all out, encouraging listeners to feel the same cathartic release. He lashes out with "Fuck You and All Your Friends" and "I Hate Everyone" -- excoriating himself as many times as he spits in everyone else's faces -- and displays newfound self-awareness, singing "I'm not a bad guy, it's just my reputation is fucked" on "Right Now." Yet it's never a downer and the album propels with rocket-ship energy. On the album cover, an astronaut returns home, as seen in a reflection on his helmet. In a sense, Coming Home is Radke returning to Earth after all these years (and albums) lost in space, finally recognizing that he needs to bring it down a few levels of atmosphere to connect with his earthling fans. ~ Neil Z. Yeung
