FF5 tries to Reanimate(d)  their least desirable album into a dance freak at the “Next Level” but falls short in a way that feels all too familiar.

I first heard/met Family Force 5 at Alive 05 (that’s 8 years for those who failed math). I was blown away by this new style of rock. They were crazy, enjoyably over the top and just had the most fun on stage I’d ever seen. Then when the album dropped it topped everything I could have imagined. Finally, a rock album that had a little dance in its step. Next came Dance or Die which was more of a dance album that rocked, again succeeding my every expectation turning them into my favorite band. You could play their music everywhere. Parties, jamming in the car, to rock fans, to hip hop fans, to drinking buddies, to your mom, EVERYBODY loved themselves some Family Force 5.  Here’s a band that was a genre smashing machine. You couldn’t lock them down on anything, because the minute you did they’d flip it back on you. Always daring you try and box them up. You can feel the fun injecting into you from song to song, like each individual sound wave was an osmosis of their fun to your body. Then after Dance or Die, FF5 released a remix album of an album that already kinda sounded like a remix album. While it wasn’t amazing, it released probably they’re most crunkest song yet in “Ghostride tha Whip.” Even the name Ghostride the Whip defines the word crunk (Google this and prepare to see how the other % add fun to their lives). Then came III and just made me sick. You hear songs like “Can You Feel It,” “Dang Girl,” and to a lesser extent “Get On Outta Here” and you can’t believe what you’re hearing. You feel the song ignite the party match hidden inside you and can’t help but think “this band is simply untouched in this world.” Then the rest of the album stumbles its way, like it’s trying to lower its self down to a beneath audience. I understand and support exploring and advancing yourself musically (like The Arctic Monkeys have done with their 2 most recent albums) but it didn’t feel like that’s what was at stake here. Next up from FF5 – Reanimated.

The title hurts me to look at. One of the most original bands I’ve ever heard just put out a remix album called Reanimated. It feels like those awful Asylum movies (I Am Omega instead of I Am Legend, Transmorphers instead of Transformers) on Linkin Park’s Reanimation. Same storyline,  just one is completely a rip off of the other high budget one. Please don’t let this be Asylum Presents: Family Force 5’s Reanimated. Luckily “Chainsaw” saws (like I could help myself) the theory apart with a crunktastic opening to the album. Brining the Family Force 5 I fell in love with to the surface. Who would have thought you could dance to the sound of a chainsaw? Even Ash would be nodding his boomstick to it. With great drops, lyrics flying from every direction and non-stop fun, “Chainsaw” is everything I hoped this album would be.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdJicpjitMM&h=297&w=450]

Unfortunately it wouldn’t turn out to be that way. The next 5 tracks feel like uninspired attempts at creating the fun and dance of old. The problem is everything seems like a generic rave dance beat created safely for an unraving audience. The album plays safe for too long and quickly becomes forgettable. “Phenomenon” and “Superhero” feel like bland retelling of the EDM scene. Not awful but not great, just kinda wallows in a flow of underage kids raving it up without all the fun. “Cray Button” uses pop culture fun to make a song that fails to hit any kind of enjoyable climax, instead again sliding into a safe drop. “Wobble” tries to crip walk its way to fun but comes across just crippled. “Can You Feel It” has the excitement and fun stripped away as the song turns you into elder Ebenezer Scrooge looking through the fog at a time of Family Force 5’s prime. Next up is the remix of “Paycheck.” The original was less than awesome for me. While I applauded their risk into getting more serious with their lyrics, it still played it too close to the chest and came off kinda whiny and whimpy. Luckily the remix bangs it home with a great haunting feel. This feels like what the original “Paycheck” was supposed to be. While “Paycheck” is great, it’s not the firestarter I envisioned when I thought about this album. Thank goodness “Zombie” comes creeping in to unleash the Crunk Juice (legally obligated to let you know that drinking too much Crunk Juice will sprout dreads from your head like a Chia pet and uncontrollably force you to Tourettes out the words “Yeah!” and “OK!”). FF5 is just so great with understanding of rhythm. They know when to let the bottom drop, when to let things run and when to create a new dance fad. And with a name like “Zombie” it does just that. Using its climax to completely blow the roof off, “Zombie” is an invasion that can’t be contained. “Get on Outta Here” and “Luv Addict” have a little rough transition to their remixes. It’s not that their bad it’s just that they don’t improve on their originals, which is hard to do (though “Luv Addict” has a Yes! moment that brings you back to the enjoyable original fun early days of FF5). “Get on Outta Here” (original) sounds like it could fit right on this remix album without any changes. Skippable tracks in the mold of “Well, we needed to fill the album.” “Put Ur Hands Up” would have been a nice refreshing change had it not been mastered earlier. Davis Harwell does his best Ben Folds “Bitches Ain’t Sh*t” cover of “Put Ur Hands Down” but like we find out unfortunately too much on this album, sometimes the original is best left alone.

Luckily, “Next Level” does exactly what its title asks of it, taking Family Force 5 and EDM to form a new level where EDM and Rock pop out prodigy babies. To some EDM is just those old dial up tones coming out of the former lead singer of From First to Last’s speakers, but here EDM is used to create a new type of rock, awesomely including solos. “Hey you know I’m the bomb. That’s why you sounded the alarm, right?.”  I miss this FF5 so much! Only FF5 can make their hardest song to date, also the most catchy song they’ve put out in years. It melts your face with inhumane synths while creating the most chaotic dance party in the world with its manipulation of pauses and beats. It’s honestly like being trapped in a movie theater when a fire alarm goes off, but instead of everyone running out of there, they decide, “Screw it, we’re just gonna dance the fire off.” If I keep listening to this song I’m going to teach myself to fire breathe and then fire dance myself to an exit of beating glory. It’s a riot, literally. LZ7 and Slow Glow vocally jive their way through hidden drops and unexpected blasts like experts of Super Mario. Is it vocal poetry? Only to the uncaring (and possibly [100% if it’s me] drunk dancer) but that’s who it’s made for. This is what makes FF5 great and where they feel most comfortable. I miss this FF5 and I don’t understand what’s happened.  So I guess what I’m saying is… I’m just a fan sitting in front of a band I really like and asking them to please make a full album I can fall in love with again.

If you’re still looking for more than the usual EDM, grab yourself a time machine and go see what was Audaxis. You can still hear drafts here:

Smash the Floor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvnRE_pjn88

Be The Same https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxK5aZxPyh0

I Know the Truth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML0BEIEYUDs

Let It Go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_3TWWbYLmo

Fade Into Darkness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG7Ap2udEVc

PS – Congrats to our friends in To Kill A Monster (www.facebook.com/ToKillAMonster ) on their recent playing at Warped Tour!