EastScene

There’s been a huge burst of popularity throughout the last couple years in one of the many branches of the hardcore genre that blends the catchy step of power pop music, reminiscent of Forever The Sickest Kids, Nevershoutnever, and many others, and the heavy riffs and breakdowns that you would find in your typical hardcore music, like Paddock Park or even Alesana. Many, and I mean like 90% of the bands that try to complete the fusion of the two styles fail quite miserably, but without those tremendous downfalls we wouldn’t be able to find the occasional  diamond in the rough, in this case For All Those Sleeping.

Their album Cross Your Fingers, released on July 20th, is their first release since signing with Fearless records after putting out a demo/EP independently, and their looking for a good start as part of one of the industries leading labels.

This album has something for everyone who enjoys the post-hardcore genre and can definitely give you some hope for the future of this band. They put out a constant energy in their music and have numerous twists and turns throughout songs that jump from quick paced electronic based chorus’s to the heavy, start-swinging-your-fists breakdowns that can send waves of excitement through your body (notable tracks like He’s Dead Because Mommy Killed Him, and The Midnight Society).

Even with all the aforementioned awesomeness, there are still a couple flaws that definitely put a damper on the album. Once the initial “awe” factor fades away the songs can tend to draw out a bit and take away from the experience overall. Certain songs have a repetitive factor that seems to turn a 3 minute song into feeling like a 5 minute one, most notably Run Away.

Another of the smaller flaws I found was the way the songs seem to mesh together. There was a shortage of creative differences between songs and I found myself looking back to my iTunes to notice I had gone through three songs when I still thought I was listening to one. They would do well to look at some bands that excel in differentiating their sound throughout an album, like Greeley Estates most recent album No Rain, No Rainbow.

All in all this was still a good enough album and definitely gives me something to listen to until the new Word Alive album comes out, but there are still some flaws people might find that could turn them off of this band. I look forward to their future and hope they progress even further as a more influential part of this genre.

Notable Tracks:

Favorite Liar

Never Leave Northfield

If I Wanted Your Two Cents I’d Rob You