Armor For Sleep - Smile for them

Sire/Warner Records . 2/29/2008 . written by Oliver

Armor For Sleep, formaly known for beeing signed to Equal Vision records, has put out a brandnew record on major label Sire records, called “Smile For The Camera”. The new record contains twelve dynamic Emo-Rock tracks, pretty much in the vein of their foregoer records. Their last record was focussed on one theme: Death! To me the band has made an interesting step forward: On “Smile For The Camera” you can find many candid songs, like the title track “Smile for the camera”. This song contains a well crafted refrain with screeching guitars and slamming drums. The sing-a-long factor on this one is huge. To me Armor For Sleep has turned out to be one of the best bands from the emotional Rock genre. Their music definintely talks straight to the heart of the listener. Their refrains and their creativeness is just impressive. I totally like Ben Jorgensen´s voice, which sounds pretty young on one hand but very strong and expressive on the other hand. Sometimes the band use piano, synthezisers and several effects to create a special atmosphere. The songs tend between a midtempo – and slow. I like the fact, that some songs sound very silent and calming, as screeching guitars suddenly set in. There are a few exciting songs to find, like “Run Right Back In”, which has a great choir in the backround, but also super-slamming drums and a killer refrain. “Snow Globe” is a loveley Rock ballarde with great guitars and violin in the back. “End Of The World” sounds to me like an output from the foregoer record “What To Do, When You Are Dead”. This track contains a very great refrain, with killer guitars in the backround. “Lullaby” is another dreamy Rock ballarde, that surely talks about love.The refrain on that song is so very beautiful beautiful. “Chemicals” is one of the hardest tracks on “Smile For The Camera”. Listen to the hard edged guitars and the slamming drums. In my opinion the band has a good feeling to tend between hard edged Rock tunes, while they put in a lot of emotion in the next second. The most outstanding track is called “Stand In The Spotlight”. I cannot get enough of this song: The tune awaites the listener with monster drums and a super-great refrain, that just grabs you directly by the heart. You can also figure out some trifles, like a keyboard on this song. The guitars tend between hard and very soft passages. Ben´s beautiful voice totally complete this song. You definitely need to listen to the record, if you´re into older AFS releases and Spitalfield. This album has really turned out very well.

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Rank: (5 out of 5)

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