Armor For Sleep
What To Do When You Are Dead
Equal Vision Records
Released: February 22, 2005
About Armor For Sleep:
band members:
Ben Jorgensen - guitar, vocals
Anthony Dilonno - bass
PJ Decicco - guitar
Nash Breen - drums
website: www.armorforsleep.com
previous albums: Dream To Make Believe (2003, Equal Vision Records)
track listing:
1) Car Underwater
2) The Truth About Heaven
3) Remember To Feel Real
4) Awkward Last Words
5) Stay On The Ground
6) A Quick Little Flight
7) The More You Talk The Less I Hear
8) Basement Ghost Singing
9) Walking, At Night Alone
10) I Have Been Right All Along
11) The End Of A Fraud
This album, like most bands second album, is not the same as their first. One obvious difference, is this cd has been called a concept album. Whether you consider it a "concept album" or not, it seems to tell a story thoughout the album. Starting with his death "Car Underwater", and ending with him 'leaving' in "The End Of A Fraud". I think they have progressed and I'd say this album is just as good, if not better than, Dream To Make Believe. I believe that Ben wrote their entire first album by himself (i think so, I'm not sure though), which also would explain why it's not exactly the same.
1) Car Underwater
I love the way this CD starts off, in my opinion "Car Underwater" was probably the best track to start it off. Obviously, since the whole album is telling a story, the lyrics fit well, but the music has a good feel to it, that shows they havent changed a lot. It starts off with what sounds like wind and then the guitars come in playing palm-muted riffs, followed by Ben singing, and then bursts into the chorus. The chorus is a little catchy, yet, really powerful as well. The song is pretty simple format, yet it will have you singing along instantly.
2) The Truth About Heaven
This song (following the story line) is basically him saying to someone that, even though he is in heaven, he is miserable without them and how he misses being with them. It ends with good lyrics right before the chorus "Don't believe that it's better when you leave everything behind. Don't believe that the weather is perfect the day that you die. I guess it's kinda like a "the grass isnt greener on the other side" type of thing. Overall good song, not one of my favorites though.
3) Remember To Feel Real
This song probably has one of the best intro's of all the songs on the album. The guitars sound awesome, and it's followed by singing, a driving bass line and drums. Awesome music throughout. Awesome lyrics throughout. Awesome Chorus. In my opinion, this song is a little less obvious as to what it is really about. But it basically seems to be about him realizing that someone was right in his life. They figured him out when he was lost. The lyrics seem to not stick to exactly one topic. But, like all songs on the album, you can pretty much get what the song is about by reading the title of the song.
I love the way this album is laid out. The songs, obviously tell their own story. And it may just be random. But the song before "Remember To Feel Real" is titled "The Truth About Heaven", and the first lyrics leading into "Remember..." start off 'So here's the truth,...' It could be random, but I doubt it, and it's just a little thing, but I really like it. Every song leads perfectly into the next throughout the cd. Deffinetly one of my favorites.
4) Awkward Last Words
It starts out with a pretty chill, relazed intro. The song is pretty much about him wanting to "start everything over" and fix things in his life even though its over. He realizes that pushed someone away, and he wants to fix it and live again. In my opinion, one of the best songs on the cd. It builds up to the end and has a really strong ending.
5) Stay On The Ground
This song sounds like an Armor For Sleep song, not necesarily predictable, but it's recognizeable. The intro could have been a little better, but overall it's still a very good song. Basically he's saying that he's stopped caring and how he's not holding onto anything. The music repeats as the song fades out. I like the way the song flows and it's very good throughout.
6) A Quick Little Flight
This song starts out with a keyboard intro and then the drums come in, its a drum machine though, and it sounds really good with the simple keyboard part and the lyrics. It's about him wondering if someone can see him, and him pretending he's flying. The song is pretty relaxed and has no guitars throughout. A quick little song.
7) The More You Talk The Less I Hear
Awesome guitar intro, followed by impressive lyrics. The lyrics seem to (somewhat) go along with the lyrics to "Stay on the Ground". It's basically about him not caring about anything besides wanting to see someone's face. Impressive chorus: "they're trying to pry into my brain but I'm gone. I'm running down highways 'till I see your face. I just need to see you now. And I don't care about anything else. One of my favorites. Melodic Verse, Powerful Chorus.
8) Basement Ghost Singing
This song is probably my favorite AFS song. Not just on this album, but out of all their songs. This song is full of effects, starting off with an echo effect on one of the guitars and a drum machine during the verse, giving the song kind of an "electronica" feel. There are no effects during the chorus, and the song is very well put together and transitions smoothly. Very powerful and emotional chorus, shocking breakdown, and amazing lyrics. The song is pretty much about him being in someones basement, "keeping out of their way", and wanting to get through to them, but without bothering them. Hence, why he is in the basement, trying to keep out of their way. I love the lyrics, they are very impressive throughout. This song is not anything like their style, and if it's one of the first songs you hear by them, it can mislead you as to what their sound is like. Nonetheless, it's very impressive and powerful. It ends with Ben repeating "The lights are off and I'm lost again." and a guitar lead that continues right into the next song. (You can hear it echoing for a little while into the next song, as another guitar part goes over it.)
9) Walking, At Night Alone
This one starts off right where "Basement Ghost Singing" ended. It flows very smoothly from the previous song into this one. Theres a very original, fast, clean channel guitar part in the intro followed by the other guitar with an effect on it. This song may bore some at first, but if you keep listening you'll probably end up really liking it. It's about him 'walking at night alone', wanting to talk to someone, and for them to stay with him. Pretty self explanatory, but it's still a very diverse song. Really good lyrics: "Love seems like a mess when it won't let go of me, but when it's gone I don't feel alive."
10) I Have Been Right All Along
Again, the outro from the previous song leads into the intro to this one. I really like how it does that, how all the songs are connected. This one isn't one of my favorites, its got kind of a catchy chorus (catchy, not poppy) The song is about him believing that he was 'put here for' someone and wanting to tell them that even though they won't believe it. Not one of the best tracks, but still good.
11) The End Of A Fraud
This is a very good, original way to end this great album. It starts out clean and melodic. The song is pretty much about him leaving again, and noticing that they 'never heard one sound out of his mouth'. it seems like he was neglected, so he left. About halfway or so through the song he basically says that he believes that he was never alive in the first place. This song ends with a reference to the second track "The Truth About Heaven" with Ben repeating "Don't believe that the weather is perfect the day that you die.", and then a female singer comes in. It sounds like one of those opera-type singers. It's crazy, yet totally original. It's kind of odd, but I love the way it ends. It's the last song on the album, and the lyrics at the end of the song basically sum up and wrap up the album. The music ends as if they were playing a show. All in all, I love how it ends.
Overall, this cd is very impressive and will leave you wondering what their next album will sound like. Armor For Sleep is a band that doesn't really sound like anybody, and is a band that anybody can get into. So if my review interested you, and you haven't heard them you should deffinetly check them out.
(sorry if the review was a little lengthy.)
