On March 1st, U.K. arena rock/metalcore giants WHILE SHE SLEEPS released their followup to “You Are We” entitled “So What?” via Sleep Brothers/Spinefarm/Search and Destroy Records. This record showcases While She Sleeps mastering the art of creating catchy melodies while still rocking pretty hard.
Madness To Creation remembers being introduced to While She Sleeps as they provided direct support for Trivium and Arch Enemy last year. We had the pleasure of interviewing Lawrence Taylor(vocalist), and we remember him being so passionate about engaging in a call to arms for a unified world and celebrating differences with one another instead of tearing one another down. Those themes continue to be evident in “So What?”.
The album starts off with a hard hitting track entitled “Anti-Social”. “Anti-Social” sounds like that perfect way to start off a concert, where it gets pitch black inside the venue, the lights and fog machine is being set off and it just kicks you in the teeth from the onset. The song is written as an effort to unify the world and just being flat out sick and tired of all of the division in the world.
The songs are chocked full of anthems and lyrics that cause their fans to clutch their chest and sing at the top of their lungs. You will see some different elements that might throw their core fanbase that proverbial curveball, in particular in the track “Back Of My Mind”, there are some house looping elements in the song, but then it goes into a pretty sick breakdown towards the end of the song. The title track definitely sounds poppy in the outro, but the harmony is so freaking catchy that you cannot help but sing along to it, but don’t worry While She Sleeps fans, this song has that trademark While She Sleeps bounce in it. That kind of bounce that has ridiculous guitar licks, and wonderfully fun and meaningful sing alongs.
This album is not necessarily a departure from “You Are We”, however, it’s more “radio friendly” in the sense that it’s full of melody, but While She Sleeps hasn’t forgotten y’all as they still have that punk attitude, while incorporating modern metal elements in their arrangements. This band has done it again with creating songs that are a battlecry to reunite a generation. Madness To Creation rates this an 8 out of 10 stars. Here is the track listing:
- Anti-Social
- I’ve Seen It All
- Inspire
- So What
- The Guilty Party
- Haunt Me
- Elephant
- Set You Free
- Good Grief
- Back Of My Mind
- Gates Of Paradise
While She Sleeps has some tour dates coming up! Check out the tour dates below:
Sun. 3/3- Album Signing & Acoustic Performance in Sheffield, United Kingdom
Mon. 3/4- Album Signing & Acoustic Performance in London, United Kingdom
Tue. 3/5- Album Signing & Acoustic Performance in Kingston Upon Thames, United Kingdom
Wed. 3/6- Album Signing & Acoustic Performance in Preston, United Kingdom
Thu. 3/7- Album Signing & Acoustic Performance in Nottingham, United Kingdom
Fri. 4/26- House of Blues in Anaheim, California
Sat. 4/27- Van Buren in Phoenix, Arizona
Mon. 4/29- Ogden Theatre in Denver, Colorado
Wed. 5/1- House of Blues in Dallas, Texas
Thu. 5/2- Emo’s in Austin, Texas
Fri. 5/3- House of Blues in Houston, Texas
Sat. 5/4- House of Blues in New Orleans, Louisiana
Sun. 5/5- Welcome To Rockville in Jacksonville, Florida
Tue. 5/7- Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia
Wed. 5/8- Growlers in Memphis, Tennessee (w/Thy Art Is Murder)
Thu. 5/9- Cannery Ballroom in Nashville, Tennessee
Fri. 5/10- Pop’s in St. Louis, Missouri
Sun. 5/12- Epicenter Festival in Rockingham, North Carolina
Tue. 5/14- 9:30 Club in Washington D.C.
Wed. 5/15- Fillmore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Thu. 5/16- Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, New York
Fri. 5/17- Sonic Temple Music & Arts Festival in Columbus, Ohio
Mon. 5/20- Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts
Tue. 5/21- Mtelus in Montreal, Canada
Wed. 5/22- Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, Canada (w/Architects)
Thu. 5/23- Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, Canada
Fri. 5/24- The Majestic in Detroit, Michigan
Sat. 5/25- Concord in Chicago, Illinois
Fri. 5/31- Victoria Park in London, United Kingdom
Fri. 6/7- Rock am Ring 2019 in Nurburg, Germany
Thu. 6/13- Nova Rock in Nickelsdorf, Austria
Wed. 6/19- Copenhell in Kobenhavn, Denmark
Thu. 6/20- Pustervik in Haga, Sweden (w/TesseracT)
Thu. 6/27- Tons of Rock in Ekeberg, Norway
Fri. 6/28- With Full Force Festival in Grafenhainichen, Germany
Sat. 6/29- Vainstream Rockfest in Munster, Germany
Wed. 7/3- Resurrection Fest in Celeiro, Spain
Thu. 7/4- VOA Heavy Rock Festival in Lisbon, Portugal
Thu. 7/11- 2000 Trees in Cheltenham, United Kingdom
Fri. 7/12- Mighty Sounds Festival in Tabor, Czech Republic
Wed. 7/17- Electric Castle in Bontida, Romania
Sun. 7/21- Metaldays in Tolmin, Slovenia
Thu. 8/22- Reload Festival in Sulingen, Germany
For tickets and further information, click here.
Fans can find WHILE SHE SLEEPS at the following locations:
www.twitter.com/whileshesleeps
www.instagram.com/whileshesleeps
www.facebook.com/whileshesleeps
