Sunday, September 22, 2013

Record Collection #10: Sleeping With Sirens - Feel

I have some very mixed feelings about this record. At first I liked it, but really, I haven't really played it a whole lot to be honest.

Sleeping With Sirens - Feel (2013)


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. Deja Vu
10. These Things I've Done
11. Sorry
12. Satellites


This one was my first vinyl pre-order. Definitely exciting to get a new record in the mail of new music that you haven' heard. The delay in arrival because of the production time of the vinyl does suck (my girlfriend pre-ordered on CD, and got hers on time, while I'll received my record a week later), but it's one of the most satisfying feelings, making it definitely worth the extra wait.


I ordered it on the red pressing over the white. I figured white is a pretty common color artist seem to press their music on and that I'll likely get another album on white in the future; even though I'm currently at my 28th record, and still don't own anything on white vinyl. Ha. Anyhow, the red looks really crisp, and I like how it matches the text on the cover, even if that is an incredibly small connection, they compliment each other wonderfully.

As far as the music goes, I don't know; I'm kind of torn between a couple songs that are pretty good, but I suppose all in all, I feel this album is a step down from their previous two. The album starts out kind of plain. The title track "Feel" actually feels kind of out of place. Things didn't really pick up for me until 4 tracks in with "Alone" where MGK made an unexpected rapping vocal appearance, that I admit I didn't care for at first, but now sounds like it fits in well.
The next two tracks are also quite good. "The Best There Ever Was is the album's "heavier" song featuring Fronz from Attila, and frontman Kellin get's pretty into it as well ("WHA-WHA-WHA-WHAT") which gives the song a lot of energy. However, "I'll Take You There" [video below] impressed me the most off this album. The song kicks off with a really solid chorus that leads into some really smooth verses. It's just a really good flowing, solid track. The guest vocal appearance by Shayley Bourget; former clean vocalist of Of Mice & Men; now front man of the new band Dayshell; was a welcome surprise. I just wish he had a longer part, but him and Kellin double upping on 2 separate parts of this bridge is the best part of this song that completely over rules the entire album, and in my opinion, is of a much higher caliber than what I would expect from SWS.
After "The Best There Ever Was" the album drops off for me. There's the single "Low" that sounds the most like "old SWS", and a late 80's, early 90's rock style song "Congratulations" featuring Matty Mulins (frontman of Memphis May Fire) that's going to be either love or hate for most fans (I don't like it, but it was still fun to see live at Warped Tour). Deja Vu is a surprisingly sexual song which is a new writing approach from Kellin. The rest of the album is rather forgettable, for me at least.

It's an alright album. If the rest of the tracks were as solid as the 4th through 7th tracks, it would be an awesome record. Regardless, "I'll Take You There" is a musical jewel that everyone into this genre of music should check out.

[pictures from google images and my instagram (@draggingtheneedle), video from youtube]

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