Spring Break
Armor's New Album Offers Nothing New
CD Review
Kaylah Baca
Issue date: 11/6/07 Section: Focus
Armor For Sleep's third album officially dropped in stores and online the day before Halloween. Their album, "Smile For Them," is not a bad release from Armor For Sleep, especially since this album is their first from a new label. The first two CDs were released by Equal Vision Records, but this one is under Sire Records.
Armor For Sleep is currently touring with The Academy Is…, The Rocket Summer and Sherwood on the Sleeping With Giants tour. This alternative/emo band has been playing together for the past six years. Coming from northern New Jersey, the band was formed by the lead singer and guitarist Ben Jorgensen. The band also includes DJ DeCicco playing guitar, Anthony Dilonno on bass and Nash Breen keeping the beat on drums.
"Smile For Them" has a track list of 12 songs, all of which leans more towards the alternative genre sound than the band's previous work did. Don't mistake that for a productive or positive change. While the songs sound OK, they also sound alike with very little contrasting melodies and meaningful lyrics. Also, 8 out of the 12 songs are over four minutes long, which is a long time to hear Jorgensen's mediocre vocals.
According to a press release, Armor For Sleep tried to "ascend the band's sound to new levels by challenging ourselves more than we ever had."
"Smile For Them" opens up with the song "Smile for the Camera," which adequately sets the tone for the rest of the album. Good licks on the guitar, but whiny vocals make it hard to fully appreciate the music. The next song is called "Williamsburg" and it is easily the best song of the whole CD, but that is not necessarily a good thing.
The CD had a lot of pre-release hype; the full album was put up on the bands MySpace page and their official Web site featured a long video that alluded to the concept of the album.
Emo is the perfect description of this band and this is proven by the basic lyric. The biggest theme of the album seems to be how alone Jorgensen feels.
While the band has released some decent tracks with the past albums, none of them are awesome enough to love. Although they have been known to view themselves as above the other mediocre emo bands out there, Armor For Sleep can at times sound exactly like them.
The CD is not horrible, but it lacks a more creative and new sound. Bands should be maturing as they release more and more albums, not just creating extensions of past work.
Contact Kaylah Baca at
Kaylah.Baca@UConn.edu.
Armor For Sleep is currently touring with The Academy Is…, The Rocket Summer and Sherwood on the Sleeping With Giants tour. This alternative/emo band has been playing together for the past six years. Coming from northern New Jersey, the band was formed by the lead singer and guitarist Ben Jorgensen. The band also includes DJ DeCicco playing guitar, Anthony Dilonno on bass and Nash Breen keeping the beat on drums.
"Smile For Them" has a track list of 12 songs, all of which leans more towards the alternative genre sound than the band's previous work did. Don't mistake that for a productive or positive change. While the songs sound OK, they also sound alike with very little contrasting melodies and meaningful lyrics. Also, 8 out of the 12 songs are over four minutes long, which is a long time to hear Jorgensen's mediocre vocals.
According to a press release, Armor For Sleep tried to "ascend the band's sound to new levels by challenging ourselves more than we ever had."
"Smile For Them" opens up with the song "Smile for the Camera," which adequately sets the tone for the rest of the album. Good licks on the guitar, but whiny vocals make it hard to fully appreciate the music. The next song is called "Williamsburg" and it is easily the best song of the whole CD, but that is not necessarily a good thing.
The CD had a lot of pre-release hype; the full album was put up on the bands MySpace page and their official Web site featured a long video that alluded to the concept of the album.
Emo is the perfect description of this band and this is proven by the basic lyric. The biggest theme of the album seems to be how alone Jorgensen feels.
While the band has released some decent tracks with the past albums, none of them are awesome enough to love. Although they have been known to view themselves as above the other mediocre emo bands out there, Armor For Sleep can at times sound exactly like them.
The CD is not horrible, but it lacks a more creative and new sound. Bands should be maturing as they release more and more albums, not just creating extensions of past work.
Contact Kaylah Baca at
Kaylah.Baca@UConn.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
anonymous
posted 11/07/07 @ 4:15 PM EST
You can go suck cock. Armor for Sleep is amazing. Smile for Them is an amazing album. plus if you don't like Ben's voice go fuck yourself.
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