FEVER 333, WRONG GENERATION: Album Review

FEVER 333 are a Californian rap metal band formed as recently as 2017. They feel like a supergroup at this point, featuring former members of Letlive, Chariot and Night Verses. They exploded onto the scene immediately with their mixture of heavy riffs, harsh, fast vocals and angry, provocative lyrics. I used to be a pretty big fan of Letlive back in the day, especially live, but haven't had too much time to check out these guys aside a couple of big songs, so let's see what it's like, shall we?

BITE BACK (apologies in advance for the massive amount of capitalization this band uses) starts with a huge, fuzzy, nu-metal-esque riff. It sounds amazing immediately. Jason's harsh rapping vocals kick in over the top within seconds, acompanied by subtle but great cymbol work in the background. The song continues to build as a drumbeat comes in halfway through the verse, only make it sound heavier, before it explodes into a dirty, massively heavy guitar riff for the chorus. It really opens up the song, the heaviness making my face scrunch up every time I hear it. The screaming vocals only add to it, too, making it sound even better. Speaking of lyrics, the lyrics here are some of the best I've heard Jason write, lines like 'they just gon' beat us won't feed us until we bite back' really hammering home their point strongly, especially at times like these where the world is still acknowledging it's mistreatment of certain people. The heavy breakdown with the chorus riff and some electronic breakdown sounds awesome, but it is when the song is stripped back to the low drums that it really gets amazing. Chanting gang vocals behind some amazing, emotionally delivered lyrics from Jason, all building back up more and more with the drums and electronics before it explose into a faster final chorus. Yes, the amazing riff has changed to fit the pacing, but given the topic and story of the song I don't mind one bit. I've listened to this a few times now and I cannot get enough of it, one of my favourite songs of the year!

BLOCK IS ON FIRE thankfully starts a little slower and more relaxed than the last song, something that was definitely needed after the adrenaline rush of BITE BACK. It's a lot more of a hip hop song than a metal one, being drum and electronic led, of course with some amazing rapping again from Jason Aalon. There is no guitar work at all here but it is still heavier than a hell of a lot of stuff out there today. Not a lot to say about the song as it's the same riffs and patterns repeating over and over, but the lyrics are again amazing and the chorus is surprisingly catchy.

WRONG GENERATION starts with more hip hop stylings, this time even having some old school record scratching thrown in there for good measure. The opening lyrics (which would go on to become the chorus) are again pretty damn catchy, building up before dropping into another rappy verse, complete with sirens. The chorus here with the other vocalist sounds awesome, really adding to the sound and diversity. More great lyrics like 'you fuck with the wrong generation' are really becoming the standout parts of this album so far, full of angry and attitude, something sorely lacking in any of today's music, be it pop or rock. The song takes it's time getting to the drop and the heavier stuff too but man, when it does it's amazing. Continuing to repeat that amazing lyrics I mentioned earlier as it builds up and up and up, (almost like a homage to RATM's 'Killing in the Name') first with drums before some hugely heavy guitar chords follow, it sounds amazing. Unfortunately my only issue with the song is that, unlike Killing in the Name, it doesn't have a big drop into a huge, heavy final piece. It just builds up so much and then suddenly that's the end of the song. My only gripe from an otherwise stellar album, so far.

U WANTED A FIGHT with a sick drumbeat and some low bass, building up the vocals before exploding into a huge, heavy, awesome riff. It drops back into some more amazing lyrics, 'no justice, just us'. Just when it starts to feel a little repetitive, too, the lyrics change into some great, fast paced rapping over the drums. The whole attitude of this song seems angry, from the fast pace to the screaming to the lyrics, a great change of pace from the last two slightly slower songs. The structure of this song seems all over the place, though. It went from chorus to some other repeated lyric to some rapping, and then back to a bunch of chorus' with only a little bit of difference in the middle. A great song but a little repetitive, only saved by Jason's vocals getting harsher and harsher each time.

WALK THROUGH THE FIRE starts with some heavy, low bass and some great gang vocals over the top, repeating the same great line over and over as it builds up. It soon drops into another sick, heavy guitar riff with Jason singing the same words again as the chorus. It soon drops into a bouncy, quirky rap verse, their hip hop influence shining through again. It's soon back at the amazing heavy chorus, though, maybe my favourite off the album so far. There's a HUGELY heavy breakdown riff after the second chorus too, the guitars sludging along with some harsh vocals over the top. It also closes by dropping back down into the intro chanting, a great little callback. This whole song is a huge highlight of the album, and instantly made it onto my playlist!

FOR THE RECORD features the only guest appearance on the album, that of Walter Delgado of Rotting Out fame. It opens with a short but pretty decent riff, one I wish they'd let go on a little longer, if I'm honest. The song didn't exactly have time, though, it's just over two minutes of fast, crazy, heavy punk, barely stopping to take a breath until the last 30 seconds. It's fucking awesome, if I do say so. The verses are quick and go hard and the chorus', where I think is where Walter kicks in, are still heavy but also massively catchy, being stuck in my head since I first heard it. Things slow down during the outro, having an almost anthematic feel to things as both vocalists sing/scream the same line, it having a real epic conclusion feel to it. Again, I'd have loved this part to go on longer, but I also love the fact that the song is so damn short, getting right to the point and not overstaying its welcome. Another huge highlight!

The first thing that struck me about LAST TIME was the mixing and recording. It sounds like it had been recorded live, the echo of the vocals bouncing around a large, open room being apparent. It only adds to the beautiful nature of the song, though, a short, barely minute long interlude of just piano and vocals. Jason's voice is on point here, too, clean and full of emotion, even hitting some surprisingly high notes af times during it. The lyrics themselves are beautiful too, and delivered with such emotion that you really feel every note. A great slow song on an otherwise aggressive album.

SUPREMACY closes the album out. It starts out with a beautiful, isolated female vocal track, someone who I can't see credited at all so I have no idea who it is. Either way, they sound great, though. It then drops into some more heavy hip hop beats and some great lyrics and delivery from Jason. The chorus finally opens up the song, a big, catchy section full of clean vocals. If anything it reminded me of Linkin Park than anything else, elements of his clean vocals remind me of Chester's. A surprisingly mellow end to an otherwise aggressive album. Part of me wishes they'd gone hard and heavy to finish it off with a bang, but then again I see a lot of bands ending on a lighter one these days, it seems to be a trend. It felt a little bit of a letdown given the quality of the rest of the album before this point and is definitely the weakest song on the album for me, but it is still a damn good song in its own right.

Overall I loved this album. Everything about it was amazing, from the contrast of heavy riffs to hip hop stuff, the songwriting and clearly they are all damn good at their instruments. The lyrics stood out amongs it all the most, though. I miss having a genuinely angry album, everything these days is so PC and it's so refreshing that we're now getting stuff akin to RATM again, especially now when we need it more than ever. Also, at less than 20 minutes in length, it was short, concise and a damn easy listen. As I said in the last paragraph, the only slight nitpick I can pickup on is the pacing, putting the two slower songs at the end felt odd, I'd have much preferred a big heavy one to close things out. However, that is entirely personal preference. This has honestly already become one of my albums of the year, I think.

Overall: 8.5/10