If I'm the Devil ...

chronology
If I'm the Devil ...
Studio album by letlive .
Publication ; (s)	17th June 2016
admission	2014-2015
Label (s)	Epitaph Records
Format (s)	CD , vinyl , download
Genre (s)	Post-hardcore;
Title (number)	11
running time	44 min 41 s
occupation	Singing : Jason Butler ; Electric guitar , keyboard , backing vocals : Jeff Sahyoun; Drums : Loniel Robinson; Electric bass , backing vocals: Ryan Jay Johnson;
production	letlive., Justyn Pilbrow
Studio (s)	Kingsize Studiolabs , Los Angeles , California

If I'm the Devil… is the fourth studio album by the American progressive post-hardcore band Letlive , which was released on June 10, 2016 worldwide via Epitaph Records .

Backstory

On September 25, 2015, the band announced that they had finished work on the album and that it would be released in the course of 2016. On November 3 of the same year, the title of the album was finally announced in an article in Revolver .

On April 6, 2016, the album was officially announced and the cover and track list presented. In addition, the pre-order phase on ITunes and Google Play has started. The first single Good Mourning, America was released the same day. If I'm the Devil ... itself was released on June 10, 2016.

Music genre

In an interview with British Rock Sound , singer Jason Butler said that If I'm the Devil… is a typical letlive album, on which aggression and rock 'n' roll can be heard and new elements are incorporated. Elements of new wave , dark soul and hip-hop and even indie influences are to be processed.

In an interview with the American Revolver Magazine , it was said that the musicians at times strived for different musical directions. Individual musicians wanted to write punk songs , while other members of the band preferred rock music . Jason Butler himself wanted to create what sounds like a cross between Kanye West and Royal Republic . After the studio process, however, says Butler, the group created the best sound the musicians have worked towards. There are also acoustic elements as well as insertions of electronic music that are reminiscent of Radiohead and A Tribe Called Quest at times .

Thematically, If I'm the Devil… is described as the band's most political album to date. In the second single Reluctantly Dead, For example, Butler describes an authority that abuses his position of power, while in Good Mourning, America the way the police and the white population treat African-Americans , especially the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri , is criticized.

Commercial win

If I'm the Devil… like his previous albums, missed entry into the official US album charts . However, the group entered the German charts for the first time with the album , where the album immediately reached number 70. If I'm the Devil… also hit the Australian album charts . There the album landed in 18th place. In the UK , If I'm the Devil… is the group's second album after The Blackest Beautiful to hit the official charts. However, the album only rose to number 97; The Blackest Beautiful ranked 62nd in 2013.

Chart placements
Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	70 (1 week)	1
United Kingdom (OCC)	97 (1 week)	1

Track list

#	title	length
1.	I'v Learned to Love Myself	4:57
2.	Nü Romantics	3:35
3.	Good Mourning, America	4:45
4th	Who Are You Not	4:12
5.	A weak ago	3:11
6th	Foreign Cab Rides	4:34
7th	Reluctantly dead	4:35
8th.	Elephant	2:40
9.	Another offensive song	2:59
10.	If I'm the Devil	5:01
11.	Copper Colored Quiet	4:12

Reviews

Eike Cramer from the German-speaking Metal Hammer describes the quality of the entire discography of the group as high, which is why it was already foreseeable that the group could further increase its success. He describes the opener I've Learned to Love Myself as a mixture of A Beautiful Lie by 30 Seconds to Mars , Save Rock and Roll by Fall Out Boy and That's the Spirit by Bring Me the Horizon . Jason Butler's vocals are "skilfully staged and embedded in an epic-opulent pop songwriting, which creates a crystal-clear depth through its heavy guitars". In doing so, the group succeeds in playing their entire band side of musical facets, from raw punk aggression ( Good Mourning, America ), great stadium romance ( Who Are You Not , Reluctantly Dead ) to straightforward rock music ( Elephant ) and yet still has radio-compatible qualities ( Copper Colored Quiet ). Even if the group said goodbye to the intricate complexity of their songs from earlier days, the album had become strong. Tobias Dahs from the online music portal Powermetal.de sees it similarly and writes that the quartet present musically and lyrically challenging topics. The group manages to accommodate their complexity and progressiveness in eleven short and concise pieces and names as musical examples the titles I've Learned to Love Myself , Reluctantly Dead and Nü Romantics , which, according to Dahs, have great hit potential. The only negative example for the failure of the tightrope walk between pop music and post-hardcore is the album-closing Copper Colored Quiet , which is what makes the cheesy melodies in the chorus. Nevertheless, the album has become a strong genre-related release, which seamlessly continues the metamorphosis between post-hardcore and pop music without getting lost in trivialities.

Contrary to the opinion of Cramer and Dahs, Ulf Imwiche from Intro.de describes the music on the album as a sound pudding and describes it as stadium rock with a not inconsiderably sobbed smell . Imwiche says, sword music so, "as if Bon Jovi at one imbued with soulful Schwerblütigkeit kind of Emocore try to them with their Harmlosigkeits- Hard Rock Whisk and so trim to maximum Mitschmuße capability." In contrast to Imwiche Sebastian Berlich says from the online magazine Laut.de that the album certainly knows how to entertain. He names A Weak Ago and Nü Romantics as musical examples. In the end, according to Berlich, If I'm the Devil ... is the band's best output to date, with which the group can "jump onto the orphaned emo throne."