REVIEW: Fever 333 - STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS

STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS

(STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS is the debut studio album by American rapcore supergroup Fever 333, released January 18, 2019)

    Rage Against the Machine are one of my favorite bands of all time, but the last time they released original music was 1999’s The Battle of Los Angeles, being as their 2000 album Renegades is a covers album. So when I heard the Fever 333’s track “Made in America” and the EP of the same name, I got excited. Vocalist Jason Aalon Butler’s rapping is a dead ringer for Zack de la Rocha, and the instrumentals were like RATM style rock mixed with modern day trap music. But somehow I missed the release of their debut full length album, so I listened to it as soon as I got the chance, and I have a lot of thoughts.

    The album doesn’t start off in the best way, as the opener has some of the worst writing and voice acting I’ve ever heard on an album. It picks back up on the next track, however, on the lead single “Burn It.” A fast-paced, blood-pumping verse opens up into a clearly Linkin Park influenced chorus that meshes surprisingly well, with a short but powerful breakdown. The next track takes a slightly more electronic approach to the production on the verse, but goes back to the heavy guitars in the explosive chorus. This is when I noticed both songs had almost identical structures: verse-chorus-verse-chorus-breakdown-chorus, and it doesn’t change with the next track, “Prey for Me/3.”

The song has two sections, “Prey for Me” and “3,” and is the first of three songs with a “3” section, the other two being “Inglewood/3” and “Out of Control/3”. The “Prey for Me” section has fantastic verses that are reminiscent of Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha’s single “Digging for Windows,” but suffers from the same problem much of the album does: underwhelming choruses. A lot of the verses on this album are great, but are followed up by a hook that sounds like it was ripped straight off one of the later Linkin Park albums, but not in a good way. On top of just being disappointing, they do not mesh very well a lot of the time. This is especially apparent on something like the “3” section of “Out of Control/3,” where the intense verses clash with the somewhat uplifting sounding chorus, which ruins what could’ve been one of the better moments on the album. On the contrary, songs like “One of Us” have a very infectious chorus and refrain, but a much more lifeless or uninteresting verse.

Now, I know I keep bringing up Linkin Park and Rage Against the Machine, but that’s because my other main problem with this album is that there aren’t a lot of completely new ideas. A lot of the album does sound like a mix of Rage Against the Machine and 2010s ere Linkin Park. Now, I don't think this was completely intentional, as I don’t think Jason Aalon Butler’s is intentionally imitating Zack de la Rocha or Chester Bennington, nor do I think the styles never work together or sound good, but it does feel like I’ve heard a lot of these ideas before.

Despite all of that, there is a lot I really like about this album. As mentioned before, most of the verses are great, and really call back to the days of Rage Against the Machine. The “Prey for Me” version of “3” might be my favorite moment on the album. I love the production, the mix of electronic sounds and rock guitars sounds great, and it has one of Jason’s best performances. The cut “The Innocent,” and even the songs that I’m not as crazy about, such as "Coup D’Étalk" or the “3” section of “Out of Control,” don’t fail to get me amped up. A lot of the tracks are also growers. I hated “Inglewood/3” at first, and, although I still think the “3” section is a bad mix of alt pop verses and a metalcore hook, I think “Inglewood” is an okay electronic rap rock ballad.

I had pretty high expectations for this album, and it’s sad to say I was disappointed. I thought their Made in America EP was a great debut, but unfortunately they weren’t able to carry that momentum onto a full-length project. Even though there are many moments on the album that show the band’s potential going forward, particularly Jason Aalon Butler’s high-energy verses and the great instrumentals, the underwhelming choruses, inconsistent songs, repetitive song structures, and lack of new ideas keep this album from being as good as it could have been. I am giving STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS a...

6.5/10

Favorite Tracks: Burn It, Animal, Prey for Me/3, One of Us, The Innocent

Least Favorite(s): … , 3 (Inglewood version), Am I Here?

STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS - Fever 333 | Rapcore, Rap Rock, Post-Hardcore | Roadrunner | 333 Wreckords Crew