Armor For Sleep

After a 15-year hiatus, early 2000s emo stalwarts Armor for Sleep have come full circle with their 4th proper LP titled The Rain Museum, backed by Equal Vision Records, the 30+ year old independent label that put them on the map with their self-titled debut LP and sophomore follow up “What to Do When You Are Dead,” a journey that began for the band over 20 years ago.

We’ve all heard this story before, and in the early 2000s, many of the young bands coming out of the emo/pop punk era started jumping ship from indies to majors, hoping to gain more widespread exposure, as young kids in their late teens dreaming of becoming big rock stars. Unfortunately for many, those moves ultimately served as the beginning to the end. And Armor for Sleep were one of the many bands who unfortunately fell victim to this. Following the major independent success of their sophomore LP “What To Do When You Are Dead”, a classic from the mid 2000’s, the band signed to Warner Brothers to release their major label debut “Smile For Them” with a powerhouse production and budget. While I still believe that album is highly underrated, it was ill-received by their fans and resulted in lackluster sales. The band called it a day after releasing a final EP, “The Way Out is Broken,” in 2008, a collection of songs recorded for their major label debut that didn’t make the cut. The title track of that EP still serves as one of their best songs to date.

Fast forward 15 years later, and we have “The Rain Museum,” Armor for Sleep’s latest offering, and where 2007s “Smile For Them” felt and sounded like it had the pressure of big label influence looming over them in the output of those songs, “The Rain Museum” feels like a full return to the dreamy yet loud hook-laden emo nostalgia that was perfected on their classic “What To Do When You Are Dead”; only now, they sound more polished, hold a little less angst, and carry a new sense of confidence and some stylistic twists and turns. The new album makes for an outstanding return after a 15-year absence, with varying tempos and dynamics, classic Armor For Sleep guitar tones and melodies, huge build ups and trademark sing along choruses. The album even features a monster ballad called “New Rainbows” at the midway point of the record, one that will have cell phones lit up and raised in the air, before the second half of the album kicks in.

The A Side of the LP also houses songs like “How Far Apart”, the first single released for the LP, “World Burn Down”, and “In This Nightmare Together”, which all make for classic live sing along AFS anthems; while slow burners like “Rather Drown”, “A Teardrop on the Surface of the Sun” and “Tomorrow Faded Away” dominate the B Side of the LP. The songs are layered with jangly guitars, Jorgenson's angelic voice, and excellent dynamic crescendos into explosive choruses before the distortion kicks in, and are sure to spark a range of emotions throughout the listening experience.

One of the standout tracks on the album is the single “Whatever Who Cares”, a song co-written by Kamtin Mohager, of Chain Gang of 1974, Heavenward and formerly Teenage Wrist. This is one of the more upbeat songs on The Rain Museum, carried by Kam’s driving bass line and Jorgenson’s chiming guitar leads and trademark vocal melodies, culminating in a sing-along chorus ending with the apathetic song title lyric “Whatever, Who Cares” in classic AFS melancholy fashion.

It’s quite evident that frontman and main singer-songwriter Ben Jorgenson put a lot of time and emotion into writing these songs, and the split from his wife of several years certainly had an impact––you can feel his pain throughout the album. While the songs may sound sad, they also sound triumphant, perhaps reflecting the joy taken in this return to his musical creativity that has been absent for so many years. I’m not one to highlight anything joyful about a failed marriage, but if there’s a silver lining to Ben’s personal life, it’s that it brought these incredible songs out of him and inspired him to get back to what he loves, writing and recording big, dark, guitar-driven emo rock anthems with huge melodies and monster hooks. I’m here for it, and hope this is the beginning of a rejuvenated Armor for Sleep. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another 15 years to get some new music out of them. We aren’t getting any younger!

RIYL: Taking Back Sunday, Senses Fail, The Early November, Bayside