Floridian pop-rock hopefuls Fame On Fire take us under the covers on debut full-length…
‘What are you guys, like a cover band or something?’ This metaphysical quandary, originally posed by the eponymously perma-stoned Jay in Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back, appears in the instrumental that opens LEVELS, and is Fame On Fire knowingly cracking wise. The band struck YouTube gold in 2015 with a blustery, cranked version of Adele’s Hello – which currently sits pretty at 25 million views – and since then they've covered nearly everyone from Lil Pump to Linkin Park, Nirvana to Taylor Swift. Do we do covers? Why, yes we do.
Yet that nudge-nudge-wink-wink moment is also bait for haters who would dismiss the Palm Beach pop-rockers as Punk Goes Pop fodder. After all, they've proved themselves talented shapeshifters by giving familiar, smooth tunes a rougher edge (or vice-versa). Meanwhile, a promising EP of originals, 2017’s Transitions, displayed a deeper ambition to write their own chart-smashers. This debut full-length is a chance for Fame On Fire to step up and speak for themselves without another artist’s words in singer Bryan Kuznitz’s mouth.
The chugging SOS, Not Dead Yet and Headspace prove that they can nail the brooding verse-and-big-chorus dynamic of Linkin Park like nobody’s business, but it hides their own personality. Crazy For Your Crazy may be unabashed pop – fingersnaps, toy train keyboards, Bryan literally shouting ‘BOOM’ for the drop – but it’s catchy and at least sounds like Fame On Fire just being themselves.
So, are Fame On Fire particularly original? Maybe not, but LEVELS proves that they have the desire and ability to push themselves further. Just don’t call them a covers band.
Verdict: 3/5
For fans of: Adelitas Way, Panic! At The Disco, Post Malone
LEVELS is released on September 4 via Hopeless
