Album Review :
Family Force 5 - Dance Or Die With A Vengeance
Artist: Family Force 5
Album: Dance or Die With A Vengeance
Release Date: 5/19/09
Label: Tooth and Nail
Reviewed By: Tyler Hess
Tracklisting:
1. Dance Or Die (The Secret Handshake Han Valen Remix)
2. Get Your Back Off The Wall (3OH!3)
3. Rip It Up (The Pragmatic Remix)
4. How In The World (Suave Suarez Remix)
5. Fever (The Toxic Avenger Remix)
6. Party Foul (Sami D’s UVS Remix)
7. D-I-E 4 Y-O-U (RAC Mix)
8. Share It With Me (Smile Future Remix)
9. The First Time (Matt Thiessen Remix)
10. Wake The Dead (Lalipop Remix)
11. Radiator (Jasen Rauch Remix)
12. Ghostride The Whip – Family Force 5 new song
13. Rip It Up alt. Alt Take (Croul-Glo-Activaton Version 2009)
14. How In The World (David Crowder Band uncredited (extra) Mix Ver 2)
When Family Force 5 broke into the scene a few years ago, they had this new and different sound about them that they called crunk rock, with its fast paced, frenetic and just plain craziness music. Their fan base grew exceedingly fast, with their tireless efforts both at shows and through their proficiency of social networking. Just last year they came out with a more danceable version of their sound with their sophomore release, Dance or Die. It was certainly strange thematically, but apparently placed them in some company of similar artists that decided to help them out on this re-mix project.
Asking some pretty well known artists in this newer genre, including 3OH!3 and the secret handshake, as well as the ever reliable Matthew Thiessen of Relient K to re-mix one song each from Dance or Die may help them cross-promote with some of the fans from those other bands. However, as an album this simply fails. Sure, some of these songs work pretty well individually, but as a group they just don’t flow well like the original did. Perhaps it was because each artist did their own song separately, rather than as a collaborative effort, but taken together it sounds like a poor mash up without any sense of purpose. There are too many times where the flow is lost and the fun is just plain halted because someone felt like toying around with the song more than was necessary. If anything, this album says less about Family Force 5 than it does about its friends. You can tell more if you’d like someone else’s band than if you would like Family Force 5 from this album. Personally, I’d rather have new music than something re-done worse than the original.
Overview: Though this may receive some fan fare for those who just want to dance, they are probably better off with the original than with this disjointed mish-mash effort that seems more like a cash grab than a worthwhile artistic effort.