Legends Sleeping With Sirens: An Album a Day

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Add another one to the list of decent rock bands selling out and turning pop sounding. Legends by Sleeping With Sirens is a legitimate sellout as it was done for the USA olympic team. The biggest issue is that rather than having a more commercial version of their usual style they completely disregarded any and all rock and metal influence to make a generic as all hell pop single that doesn't even sound like the same band.

I'm not going to act like Sleeping With Sirens were all that great before this track, but at least they had a style and identity. Similarly to the band Issues they mixed pop elements in with a hard rock and metalcore sound. Again, this combination was never one I particularly liked but at least they had a legitimate and interesting sound. One of the fee tracks I like from them is called We Like It Loud and features the irony filled lyrics “sell us the world but we ain't selling out”.

As a power pop track this one isn’t too bad, especially when compared to most of what get’s played on the radio these days. The synths are kind of cool and the real drums are a nice touch to keep it from being exactly like everything else on pop radio. Aside from the generic lyrics, the biggest problem on this track are the vocals. Even if you’re not a fan of this band, you have to admit Kellin Quinn has a pretty incredible voice; on this track his voice is so dull and lifeless I wasn’t even sure it was him at first.

Now, this isn't the first commercial pop sounding track they've done, pop influence has always been part of their sound. Given that they walk between pop and metal it's entirely possible this isn't their new sound but simply a one off track. But even compared to their other softer tracks this one is terrible, being devoid of any of the hallmarks of their sound. A track like Heroine works so much better for a poppier/ radio friendly song because it mixes the rock elements in.

While I've never been a fan of these guys I'll admit that they have a lot of potential and I'd hate to see them continue in the direction of a track like Legends. I've actually found a few songs from their last album Madness that I enjoy. I think a sound that is somewhere between Avenged Sevenfold, Bring Me The Horizon and radio rock is a much better fit for these guys than sellout power pop.

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