Senses Fail – Life Is Not A Waiting Room

After releasing their best CD to date last year, Senses Fail had a lot to live up to. They went through some lineup changes and came back with the follow up to Still Searching – Life is Not A Waiting Room. Sadly, it does not live up to its predecessor and instead feels more like the uneven Let It Enfold You.

Still sticking to the same formula as they always do, Life Is Not A Waiting Room is a pop-punk record with some metal and emo edges; and musically, they stay as competent as ever. Slightly polished with some slick production, the record follows the same vein as all their prior releases but seems to have taken a step back compared to Still Searching. There isn’t as much diversity on the record and nowhere do they go above and beyond what is expected by them – something which they previously did on tracks like To All The Crowded Rooms, Even The best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues and The Priest and the Matador. Here they seem to go the safe route, with the necessary “heavy” song – Lungs Like Gallows – that has a double bass kick, heavy breakdowns, and Buddy Nielsen’s screaming instead of singing – mixed with the more melodic tracks like Family Tradition and the faster pop-punk leaning Garden State. There’s the occasional guitar flourish (see Wolves At The Door), but not enough to really grab you.

But what really drags the record down is the vocals. Buddy Nielsen has always been an impressive singer in an unique way. His signature Jersey-accented delivery was unique to him and while some critics found it irritating, the unique delivery and slight quiver in his vocal is what made it so endearing. On Life Is Not A Waiting Room, Nielsen has lost that edge on most of the songs as his vocals seem to fall flat in the mix, unable to really stand out and grab you. This was the biggest selling point of their prior releases, the attraction of the vocals which forced you to sing along and stuck the lyrics in his head. Now the lyrics generally go by unnoticed as they aren’t delivered in the same striking manner as they once were.

Similarly to Let It Enfold You, every couple tracks you get a song that stands out. More often than not, these songs are the few were Buddy’s vocals are higher in the mix. They are also the songs that use sing-along choruses and back-up vocals; an element which seems to be missing now that Mike Glita has left the band.

Songs like Family Tradition, Hair Of The Dog, Ali For Cody, and Map The Streets stand out; but a record where half the songs seem flat and over-produced isn’t strong enough to keep me coming back for more. I’ll just stick with Still Searching for the time being.