FEVER 333 — STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS (Review)
For a few months now FEVER 333 have been hyped up to be the next big thing in rock music. Especially considering it was formed by former letlive. front-man Jason Butler. With a very large hip-hop presence in their sound, it’s easy to see why many have thought that this will break rock back into the mainstream. Personally though, I don’t think their debut LP does quite enough to win over the masses.
Don’t get me wrong, this album has some fantastic songs that outshine pretty much anything else on mainstream rock radio. BURN IT and PREY FOR ME/3 stand out to me, as they do the best job of blending the hardcore leanings of Jason’s previous band with the contemporary commercial side of FEVER 333’s sound. The band are at their best when they stray away from the sometimes Hollywood Undead sounding sections, and crank up the intensity on these songs, which helps their political lyrics land.
The lyricism on this album deserves a special mention, as it’s very common for music that wears it’s political leanings on it’s sleeve like this one, to come across too preachy, or even as plain sloganeering (Sometimes it is a little cringy though). References to the LA riots, or the killing of Trayvon Martin, generally land and help put across the theme of disenfranchisement the album focus’ on. The Kendrick Lamar influenced track INGLEWOOD/3, showcases this best, with the difficult coming of age story of a mixed race kid.
My pain gripe with this record is the production job. John Feldmann is the go to man nowadays for rock bands trying to break the mainstream. The chorus’ in particular sound almost indistinguishable from his work on Black Veil Brides’ 2013 album The Wretched And Divine. Having a distinct sound as a producer isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but John’s is too often overproduced and sanitary for the kind of music he makes.
This album grew on me massively the more I listened to it, but ultimately it falls into an unfortunate middle ground. Not quite having enough intensity to fully grab people like me from the Metal/Hardcore world, and too constrained by the need for big chorus’ to draw in today’s hip-hop crowd. FEVER 333 have a lot of potential though, and I’m really interested to see what they do in future.
3/5 — Good
Reviewed by Séamas Ó Sandair