Boysetsfire make a spectacular return to music with their latest release, While A Nation Sleeps, their first album in over six years. While the band took a stranger approach to their hardcore sound toward the end of their first stint as a band, While A Nation Sleeps is everything you'd want from their earlier hardcore-laden works. In short, While A Nation Sleeps is not to be missed.
Sure, While A Nation Sleeps harkens back to a time when emo and hardcore were still a big thing and metal really isn't what it is today, and that sound is definitely in there as much as any Boysetsfire fan would want it to be. But there's a much more modern and mature sound to this album than previous records. Barring The Misery Index: Notes From The Plague Years from 2006, Boysetsfire have always been pretty true to a hardcore sound that defined an era of music and that's what While A Nation Sleeps is.
Take songs like "Closure" and "Heads Will Roll" as prime examples of what this record is; balls out hardcore jams that have a serious leaning toward the good ol' days, but with a pretty modern metal feel to them that can't be explained as well as it can be felt. Then there are songs like "Far From Over," which is just downright heavy as fuck and needs zero explanation.
Where this record stands out from the pack – in terms of the insane amounts of hardcore and whatever else coming out in droves over the past few years – is that it sounds like a bunch of seasoned pros killing it at their craft without being the slightest bit bored at doing so. The record just screams "we had a lot of fun making this and you better fucking love it!" the entire way through. The passion oozes out of the speakers, and there's no way in hell anyone can avoid hearing it. If you're looking for a passionate hardcore record with amazing vocals and sick instrumental work that ties together in a beautifully done package, then this is it.
Boysetsfire, if you're reading this; don't leave us again?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUK25QCxVCQ[/youtube]
