October 30th, 2013 
Drew Caruso 
Epitaph is a legendary label. Founded in the 80s as the fuel for founder Brett Gurewitz’s band, Bad Religion, Epitaph Records have been a staple for the punk community since.
Survive This! a metalcore act from the label recently began streaming their new album The Life You’ve Chosen, and to much criticism, the band and label are under scrutiny for having sexist lyrics, and promoting violent actions against women, most notably in the track “Pardon Me.” Besides the song being terrible, and the band for that matter, the lyrics consist of hurtful words to the likes of “just wait until I get my hands on you, bleed bitch bleed…I’ve never hit a woman but you’re wearing me thin.” The album was produced by Falling In Reverse frontman, Ronnie Radke, which should be surprising to no one.
In a free world, the band is able to create anything they want. An expression of themselves, they sure have given insight to their internal integrity. More likely due to a lack of any artistic merit or understanding, Survive This! resort to violence and angst to present their art. The real shame is that people listen to this material, which is most likely why Epitaph is putting it out. The label must have some confidence that this material sells, probably to an audience with just as little artistic capacity as the band themselves, a perfect match.
But, this begs the question, who is more to blame? The band, the label, or the listeners? Just because there is a market to fill, doesn’t mean Epitaph needs to fill it. It is a shame that they are putting their stamp (of approval) on this band, and releasing their material to make money. In a sea of creativity and exploration, it saddens me that this material is being put out in 2013 (you missed your opportunity in 2006, Survive This!) while there is much better music worthy of your time.
But, as mentioned earlier, the band does have the right to put out their material. As a consumer, a listener, and a writer, I, and all of you, have the right to critique on it. Pardon me, Survive This! but I wish to fill my life with meaningful examinations of the human experience, not ones that demean the stature of women.
You can find the song around the web, I don’t want to post it here so it can rack up the band’s views. But, I will post the link to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, for anyone who wishes to be educated on the pressing matters of domestic violence that are still prevalent in our world today. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and if anything, Survive This! have solidified the urgency to get educated, and protect those we love.
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This is one of the most biased articles I’ve read on this site. The band made a mistake with releasing the song. It wasn’t intended to invoke violence; it’s a song based on a guy getting cheated on by somebody he loved and not knowing what to do with his anger.
Instead of just discussing the song, you have to go ahead and claim this entire band is terrible.
You have a great future in journalism sir…
Hate to break to you, but regardless of views on domestic violence, this band is completely awful (my opinion). If you like them, more power to you but whether or not this song was “released as a mistake,” we have the right to state our views against what seem to be theirs as much as they had the right to write and record this song. I think he made that all pretty clear in the article/editorial. Biased maybe, but I’d imagine that for most, it’d be rather hard not to be given the subject matter.