ALBUM REVIEW: Sleeping With Sirens – ‘An Ending In Itself’

It’s been a million years since the commercial peak of Sleeping With Sirens. Disappointingly, it’s been just as long since they were memorable, and not in a good way. The trifecta of Feel, Madness and—worse still—Gossip dealt so much reputational damage that’s so far proven impossible to come back from. Where their brothers-in-arms Pierce The Veil remained a creatively relevant force, the prevailing image of Sleeping With Sirens is squeaky-voiced Kellin Quinn performing basic, saccharine pop-rock that, for whatever reason, was heralded as something special over a decade ago. Thus, they’ve become tarred by anachronisms like The Strays, the sound of a man pushing 30 pretending to be a teenager in a ‘Normal People Scare Me’ t-shirt.

Obviously (and provably), that can’t last, and because not a single soul cared enough to listen Common Collapse in 2022, Sleeping With Sirens are looking to pivot and pivot hard. …well, ‘hard’ for them. The facets of Sleeping With Sirens and the limitations therein haven’t magically been willed away or anything. The opening title track is a good indicator, a song about pushing forward and not giving up and all the other platitudes that this band have built their brand on. They keep it up across the album, too, albeit in far less maudlin fashion than previous. That’s where the pivot of An Ending In Itself typically stems from—it’s still Sleeping With Sirens, no doubt, but with purpose behind them.

It’s almost certainly a result of Will Yip on production, as if this were a band for adults. Don’t suddenly expect the non-Warped Tour side of emo to come through, though; again, the ’Sleeping With Sirens’ part of this Sleeping With Sirens album is unmistakable. What it is, is more robust and tangible, and even a fair bit more textured. The standout is Need You Here, not just for how shockingly rich and burnished it can sound, but for its math-rock flourishes that would’ve sounded like they came from a different universe not too long ago.

Furthermore, An Ending In Itself might have the most opportunities for the non-Quinn members of this band to impress…perhaps ever. Nick Martin and Tony Pizzuti make some solid guitar contributions, taking more of a spotlight with wiry touches and solos on House Of Matches and Waiting For You, but being good all round. The rhythm section is largely the same with Matty Best able to shine more as a drummer, and Justin Hills’ bass work even going as far as to save Waiting For You as it side-eyes a banal alt-metal plod. It’s actually surprising that kind of dive into the meat-grinder isn’t more common; it’s not like Sleeping With Sirens are so far above it. Instead, An Ending In Itself shows a pleasing amount of restraint, sometimes even coming through as tension or grit.

As for Quinn himself, it’d be wrong to say he’s the weak link, but he’s not quite as electrified a frontman as he once way. At least that means any errant shrieks and caterwauling are largely done away with. He’s in a more comfortable range on a song like God In My Head, especially noticeable when he steps out of it. On PTSD, his spin on a nu-metal breakdown sounds more like he’s throwing a strop than producing anything imposing, a far cry from something genuinely great like Need You Here. Nevetheless, averaged out, you do getan agreeable performance from Quinn overall, and a better fit for this new style.

With that being said, An Ending In Itself a breath of fresh air for post-peak Sleeping With Sirens? Potentially, even if that runs the risk of overselling it. They’re still not a great album band with the fluctuations that occur here, though they’re far fewer and even less crippling than in the past. Add that on to the list of things that An Ending In Itself gets right, then, which is already longer than those of some of their past albums put together. To that end, it feels pretty good to say that Sleeping With Sirens are finally—finally!—getting somewhere reputable. Will they keep it up? Only time will tell, but rarely have they done more to boost confidence than this.

For fans of: Pierce The Veil, The Used, Madina Lake

‘An Ending In Itself’ by Sleeping With Sirens is released on 12th June on Rise Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall