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Armor For Sleep
What To Do When You Are Dead


3.5
great

Review

by Stormy Smiley Face USER (114 Reviews)
December 22nd, 2005 | 352 replies


Release Date: 2005 | Tracklist


Lately, it seems that I have been getting into pop-punk a lot more than I ever had before. Usually pop-punk is considered to be bands that have no real technical prowess, singing about failed relationships. Mostly true, but there are a few bands that bring originality to this overrated genre. A few of those are Senses Fail, Motion City Soundtrack, and then there is Armor for Sleep. Now with their debut album, Dream to Make Believe they had some success and even went gold, but were revered as just another emo band. While that is obviously far from the truth, they still wanted to escape that genre tag. So they recruited producer Machine (he admittedly doesn’t like their debut album) and went on to create a concept album about death, go figure. He produced the album rather well with the instrument all in the mix nicely. Unlike Dream to Make Believe where only front man Ben Jorgensen wrote the songs, the whole band worked together to create What To Do When You Are Dead. I’ve got to admit, it took me a while to become used to this album, but eventually I realized that this is actually a really good album.


I think that Ben Jorgensen was successful with putting the lyrics together as somewhat of a story about dying and what it is like. The story goes from drowning in a car to realizing that heaven isn’t as great as it is supposed to be. Then that goes to being sad and wishing about being alive. The story loses its presence though during the middle of the album and doesn’t really go anywhere. On the last song End of a Fraud, the story ends on a sad note with the lyrics “I saw pretty clear, that when I left you all stayed the same. Now I think I believe, that I was never alive in the first place. They never heard one sound out of my mouth. Don’t believe that the weather is perfect the day that you die”. That is where the story ends and the character leaves the planet Earth as a ghost and finally leaves to stay in heaven. I wish that they tried to take more of a happy outlook of death, especially since they said in the dvd they wrote this record with being considered an actual rock band instead of emo (thing is they never were any ways :-/). As for the actual vocals, Ben’s singing is rather superb. This album isn’t too catchy, but his voice is perfect for this story that he is attempting to put across to the listener. The catchiest that the album will ever get is album opener and single Car Underwater. The guitar workings on this album are entertaining, but still are the standard riff based power chords and sound the same pretty much for the whole album. The bass has a plenty of audible lines on the album, which is nice, but I would have liked to see some more technicality out that specific instrument. The drums are good and even though they are mixed low in the sound, they still have a good presence.


The biggest problem that I have with this is that many songs sound way to similar in structure, vocals, and just the sound overall, leading to quite a bit of repetitiveness. Some songs still stand out above others though. Stay on the Ground is more or less a replica of the first four songs on the album, but the I really like the crunchy riffs the guitar delivers and the rough vocals that Ben does as well. Basement Ghost Singing isn’t a favorite of mine on here, but it is a standout because it is unlike most of the other songs. It has a darker, quieter feeling and has a nice beat from the beat box to go with it along with some nice single guitar note picking. Besides repetitiveness, my other complaint is that the music and vocals can be sometimes way to depressing. I’d have liked more of an up-beat sound from the band, but this still makes for a great record. The best songs are the first five of the record and then the album closer The End of a Fraud. If you like your pop-punk to have a darker edge to it then you would probably enjoy this. Overall this gets a 3.5 out of 5 from me. Thanks for reading the review; I hope you found it helpful.



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user ratings (553)
3.7
great
other reviews of this album
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Comments:Add a Comment 
Cravinov13
December 22nd 2005


3854 Comments


Not a bad review, but I can't stand these guys in the least.

Storm In A Teacup
December 22nd 2005


46347 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Personally this album is actually a classic to me, but that would have been wrong from an unbiased perspective.



Yay, the review submissions don't cause any weird code anymore!



Edit: I didn't expect to finish this for a while. I had the first two paragraphs done for over a month now and I thought "Why not just finish it".This Message Edited On 12.22.05

Jawaharal
December 22nd 2005


1832 Comments


I've never listened to these guys :/

Storm In A Teacup
December 22nd 2005


46347 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Well, I don't think you would like them Cheeto-t.

Storm In A Teacup
December 24th 2005


46347 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

[quote=]omfg omfg I love these guys ben is my giutar ideal and is the #1 hottie on the face of the earth in front of pete wentz. I would so give any thing to meet them and I meen anything I'm like so absesed posters are all over my room i have about 11 diferent afs t shirts and i have all there cds wich i never go any were with out they are like the bigest influences on my gradge band I love them so much when are they comeing to chicagothey so should go on tour with bayside im so sad whyd beatz have to die i was so deppresd and still am when I heard that had hapend it made me cry i never cry[/quote]



This has to be a joke. I thought it was funny how you mispelled the simplest of words. Gradge-Garage :lol:

joeyisonfire
January 26th 2006


2 Comments


eh okay review, maybe im just saying that cause AFS is my favorite band....ever

Storm In A Teacup
January 26th 2006


46347 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

I gave it a 3.5 out of 5. :confused: Plus, my personal opinion of it is 5 out of 5. :confused:

santi3hg
January 30th 2006


440 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

eh im not to sure it should be under emo but hey,



but i gotta agree this album was somewhat boring besides car underwater and the truth about heaven. besides that it went straight boring. good review and making it unibiased lol.

Storm In A Teacup
January 30th 2006


46347 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

:eek: Who in the flying fuck put this under emo!?!?!!?

:mad: I'm calling my lawers!

itastelikeink
February 3rd 2006


27 Comments


for kripes. uh it is emo. it has all the elements. black hair that covers one eye, depressing lyrics, and almost in every song, someone is dead. whether its a friend or them. regardless, its a good cd. i heard car underwater and truth about heaven, and i wanted to buy it. not a waste

Damrod
Moderator
February 3rd 2006


1093 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

This is NOT emo. Don't believe what Rolling Stone is telling you. This has nothing to do with it.



If you want Emo/Emo-related music check out one of the links below for hearing samples:



http://www.purevolume.com/circletakesthesquare

http://www.myspace.com/funeraldiner

http://www.myspace.com/hotcross

circleofdeadchildren
February 3rd 2006


119 Comments


Why do People always have to label everything?

jordanshowalter182
February 3rd 2006


47 Comments


im not all that educated of armor for sleep but the times that ive listened to 'what to do when your dead'..i thought it sucked. 'my town', 'dream to make believe', and 'slip like space' were pretty good songs on their last album. they lost some of their catchiness and the lyrics were pretty bad in this album.

embroglio
February 5th 2006


219 Comments


i see nothing special about this band whatsoever.

am i a bad person for that?


santi3hg
February 7th 2006


440 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

^^

noone is a bad person for their opinion, you are the devils spawn if you try imposing that opinion on someone on the other hand.

G3LLISTER
December 14th 2008


74 Comments


this album was great with a few exceptions, what really is the highlight is the accompanying booklet that tells you what to do when you are dead, very funny and light hearted compared to the album.

HeidiH2260
December 17th 2008


2 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

I actually liked this album alot, They are one of my favorite bands.

I definatley wouldn't put them under the "emo" category.

I do agree that some of the songs are somewhat repetitive,

but overall I like this album alot.

Knott-
Emeritus
January 9th 2009


10260 Comments


im in a car underwater with time to killllllll

KritikalMotion
March 28th 2009


2282 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

i know that like. this is a "crappy" band



but i love this in so many ways. thinks it to do with when i got it though

CompanionCube
March 28th 2009


977 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

i love me some armor for sleep as well



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