Sleeping With Sirens – Feel

Those of you who regularly stop by PlanetMosh will be well aware of my feelings on ‘metalcore’, ’emo’ or whatever the fuck you want to call it today, yesterday, tomorrow, next week, next month, last year, when-the-feck-ever:  listen, genres are generalizations, media fancies adopted by writers who feel they must be at the cutting edge of the ‘next big thing’, breaking the ‘newest sound’ before anyone else… this particular mosher is in his late 40s, fucking proud of that fact and applies one criteria – is it rock ‘n’ roll, mofo?

Sleeping With Sirens fall into that vast pit of bands who I quite happily leave lying there… wallowing in a pit, before filling it in and wandering off into whatever sunset I choose, leaving an unmarked, unloved and unpitied grave buried in the dust kicked up by my size 11 New Rocks…

To be brutally honest, on first listen I wrote this mob off as second rate wannabe Paramore copycats – until I realized that vocalist Kellin Quinn is actually a bloke!  Holy shit balls, Batman:  how can someone supposedly possessed of a set of cojones not only sound like a chick but squeal louder than the shih tzu bitch next door in full heat?

Seriously, though, despite its fairly lame and predictable first half, ‘Feel’ is a decent enough stab at this much-maligned and ill-favoured (at least among us older moshers) sub-genre.  It does take off a bit in its second half, with elements of pop-punk blending more and more into the overall sound, making the likes of ‘The Best There Ever Was’ and ‘Low’ more appealing to the more cultured ear – although the initially dark and moody feel of ‘Congratulations’ is quickly ruined by a mundane and unnecessary descent into emo-core chantsville.

One hugely positive aspect, however, is the performance of drummer Gabe Barham, who helps keep the listener’s attention with a solidly impressive performance throughout.

Track list:

1. Feel
2. Here We Go
3. Free Now
4. Alone
5. I’ll Take You There
6. The Best There Ever Was
7. Low
8. Congratulations
9. Déjà Vu
10. These Things I’ve Done
11. Sorry
12. Satellites

‘Feel’ is out now on Rise Records.

Sleeping With Sirens play the UK and Ireland on the following dates:

September 30^th – Guildhall, Southampton

October 1^st – Rock City, Nottingham

October 2^nd – Academy, Dublin (sold out)

October 3^rd – Mandela Hall, Belfast

October 5^th – Barrowlands, Glasgow

October 6^th – Picture House, Edinburgh

October 7^th – O2 Academy 1, Manchester

October 8^th – O2 Academy 1, Newcastle

October 10^th – O2 Brixton Academy, London

October 11^th – O2 Academy, Birmingham

www.sleepingwithsirens.net