The guitar work on “Life Is Not a Waiting Room” is impressive with ex-Midtown guitarist Heath Saraceno and current Garrett Zablocki working perfectly in harmony, giving a similar overall sound as “Still Searching”, although with a harder edge on tracks such as Lung Like Gallows and Wolves at the Door. Both include Heath giving a more metallic throaty scream, compared to previous back up vocalist Mike Glita, who recently left the band.
Lyrically this album has similar values as their previous material, where vocalist Buddy focuses on addiction, lack of family (clearly illustrated in Family Tradition), suicide, death and past relationships. Buddy pulls this off very well as his vocals sound truly heartfelt, and this time round has found a new diversity in his vocal range, successfully blurring the lyrical monotony. A particular highlight, however, is the ending of both “Four Years” and “Yellow Angels”, with the haunting gang lines of ‘Wake up you’re sleeping, you’re sleeping behind the wheel’. This was definitely one of the first parts of the album to truly capture the listener, although every song on this album is catchy and could easily be released as a single.
Overall, this album is yet another leap from the bands early releases, moving away from the overpopulated ‘emo’ genre, adding a faster, more intense and harder sound. Is this due to a slight line-up change? Either way, this suits the band exceedingly well. Old fans, and new alike, will be satisfied with “Life Is Not a Waiting Room”. If you’re a fan of the screamo/post-hardcore/pop-punk scene, then you will probably love this. BC
"Life Is Not A Waiting Room" out now on Vagrant.
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