Zero Mag Post-Armor For Sleep Review

Armor For Sleep-Smile For Them
Armor For Sleep’s new record starts out so strong. From there on out, it mostly falters. Ben Jorgensen and crew mostly set out to try and write catchy pop-punk, emo-riffic tunes. As far as that goes, they are pretty successful. But as far as writing songs with actual substance and feeling, they mostly fail. The first song “Smile for the Camera” is a really great intro to a mediocre album. It is both powerful and amazingly catchy. “Williamsburg” immediately kills that great vibe and it goes down from there. Jorgensen’s lyrics are the typical teen angst stuff you would expect from this type of band. His voice is a nasally whine, which can be tolerable, but can get quite annoying. Aside from “Smile,” the few standout tracks are the keyboard-laced “Hold the Door,” the ethereal march of “Snow Globe,” and the pop-metallic “Stars in your Eyes.” Everything else just sounds like they were reaching for some level that is unattainable. AFS, like most, tries to be bigger than they are. Unfortunately, they tend to fail whenever they try to do this. Jorgensen and crew should stick to rockin’ out. Anything else just sounds wrong from them.