Sleeping With Sirens - An Ending In Itself
Sleeping With Sirens have been killing it lately. They sound better than they’ve ever been, and their output of albums has been truly stellar these last several years. Somewhere between the release of their Rise Records debut With Ears To See and Eyes To Hear and 2017’s poppier offering Champion, there were some growing pains. Great songs were always present, but it took a while for the entire album output to catch up. 2019’s How It Feels To Be Lost was a true step forward for this band as a collective, embracing their roots while pushing forward in a genre that can feel stale and contrived. An Ending In Itself, the band’s eighth studio album, is an excellent addition to their catalog. From the moment the opening title track kicks in, you can tell the engine behind Sleeping With Sirens is running on all cylinders.
“Forever/Always” channels early From First To Last post-hardcore aggressiveness mixed with an incredibly powerful vocal delivery from Kellin Quinn. On Ending, Quinn is channeling what seems to be a combination of severe anxiety, grief, and longing, switching from piercing screams to enthralling vocal runs. “God In My Head” opens with a breakdown, as a rather cool flanger effect is thrown over the entire guitar track, creating a sweeping soundwave, courtesy of guitarists Nick Martin and Tony Pizzuti. Standout track “Need You Here” is post-hardcore escapism, longing for love while blending early emo influences in a reverb-coated bridge.
“Left On Repeat” finds the band channeling inner turmoil and anxieties as Quinn laments “I’m waking up in a cold sweat/Tucked in deep with the fear of things that haven’t happened yet/So what should I do next/Pull the cord from the spine?/I’m so, I’m so anxious” Some of the later lines in the song fall into genre tropes, but they’re delivered endearingly. “House of Matches” feels like it’s going to veer closer to pop territory before the band tears into the track with precision and radio-ready rock energy.
The momentum starts to slow a bit around “Waiting For You” before frantically picking up the pace on “Paralyzed”, with Quinn screaming bloody murder that he’s “standing up straight, but barely alive”. A distorted bass line from Justin Hills leads into the grimiest breakdown on the album. Meanwhile, “Process” seems to take inspiration from certain genre sensibilities in 90s alternative rock, with lyrics probing the depths of Quinn’s psyche and how to move forward when you’re back is up against the wall;“Sometimes you gotta fall before you fly”, he sings.
What follows is a fast-paced “Risecore” style track that is sure to open circle pits aplenty while the band tours this on the road (“PTSD”), an epic emo ballad that explodes into an impactful full band chorus a-la My Chemical Romance’s “The Ghost of You” (“Looking Back At Me”), and the panic-driven conclusion “Storm Clouds”. Quinn emotes lines like “There’s a storm that’s raging in my brain/Turning my eyes into a blur/I tell myself it won’t be the same/But each time I get up, I make it worse/I’m here on my own/Lost my direction, I don’t know how to go on.”
While love and anxiety are pretty common topics in this subgenre of rock - call it “emo”, “post-hardcore”, “scene”, or whichever identifier you prefer - An Ending in Itself delivers these breakdown-driven mental explorations well. At times, it leans into certain lyrical cliches or tropes, but they’re executed well enough by a band that’s at the top of their game that you don’t really mind it all that much. They deliver the goods.
