SLEEPING WITH SIRENS is finally back with their sixth studio album "Complete Collapse" after beginning to tease music from it all the way back in 2019 (feels like centuries ago now). The pandemic did a lot for music- giving some bands time to step back while others kept on pumping out new material; and what it really did was create the perfect emotional landscape for artists to write super relatable content about the reality we are all living in. Lead vocalist Kellin shared (about this album) "things have changed so rapidly, and we're all doing our best to process it. There's a feeling of heaviness to the record, both in sound and emotion". With a recent resurgence of this alternative/emo rock genre, I was actually stoked for this new alum.

Wasting no time in jumping into emotion the first song "Tyrants" begins with a feral scream "Get your hands off my neck I'm trying to breathe"- an anthem to our generation feeling so suffocated and lost by the systems put in place. Aggressive and upbeat, this was placed exactly where it needed to be on the album. Next up is title track "Complete Collapse", and if this band is good at anything it's creating catchy music you want to sing along to. The hook on this song will have you doing just that. We also get a melodic Kellin moment in this track that bursts into energetic backing vocals. Another calling card of SWS is featuring other artists and singers in their songs; which we see in "Crosses" ft. Spencer Chamberlain of UNDEROATH, "Let You Down" ft. Charlotte Sands, "Be Happy" ft. ROYAL AND THE SERPENT, and "Us" ft. Dorothy. I love that they do this because you get such a mixture of vocals on all these tracks, and when you have a lead singer with such a distinctive sound it keeps the music feeling fresh and interesting.

Jumping back to "Family Tree" before going on to the last quarter of the album- this one couldn't be brushed over. If I'm being honest, I haven't enjoyed a SLEEPING WITH SIRENS album since 2011, and this song was a call back to "A Trophy Father's Trophy Son" even including the incredibly emotional and unforgettable line "is this what you call a family?" This track is one of those that sounds like sunshine but reads like a rainy day. While the lyrics remain full of feeling, the energy picks back up instrumentally for most of the remaining album. This includes that single from 2019 mentioned earlier, "Bloody Knuckles", which I didn't love when I heard it on its own but meshes so perfectly into this album. Borderline campfire sing-a-long; the final track "Grave" carries us out with a mellow, heartfelt ending accurately named where we all end.

As mentioned before, it's been over a decade since SLEEPING WITH SIRENS put out an album I liked, so I was glad to see they are coming back to some of those earlier day sounds with this new album. "Complete Collapse" was a fun album that's easy to listen and sing along to.