I quite liked The Sleeping‘s first album on Victory. While not wholly original it featured some catchy tunes and offered something a little different from the sea of shout/scream bands the scene is currently drowining in. As that record continues to sell, Victory have re-packaged the band’s first album and tagged on some demos and a DVD to entice those who bought it first time to get it again.
And while you can see The Sleeping‘s appeal, this record is nothing short of average throughout. ‘Broadcast Silence’ and a genius cover of ‘Staying Alive’ aside, this is a record full of generic and derivative emo-rock songs that follow the genre rulebook and refuse to stray down any kind of original path. There are so many painfully average and forgettable tracks on offer here it’s embarrassing – for a band that genuinely impressed on their latest record, the regression (I know this came first, time-wise) here is massively evident. Still, I guess the band’s ever-increasing fanbase will lap this up and that’s all that counts, right?