By Madeline Marks | Guest writer
Of Mice & Men recently released a new album; the much-anticipated album called Restoring Force. After the departure of lead singer Shayley Bourget (now lead singer of Dayshell, one of my new favorite bands), the band introduced the idea of Austin Carlile, the lead screamer, being the complete frontman.
When the band released The Flood: Deluxe Reissue, there were absolutely no cleans. But they still needed someone to do cleans during their live shows, so they invited Aaron Pauley, the former lead singer of Jamie’s Elsewhere (note: Pauley left Jamie’s Elsewhere in July of 2012 – not on a bad note, however, for Of Mice & Men). For a while, it was rumored that Pauley would be the permanent lead singer. The band joked that they were “dating” Pauley, testing out whether or not he was a good fit for the band.
After touring with Of Mice & Men through the rest of 2012, it was announced that Pauley would be a permanent member, doing all cleans and bass.
Now, on to the review.
Without Bourget, their sound is almost completely different, not that that’s a bad thing. If you prefer Of Mice & Men’s older sound, which was kept consistent with both of their first two albums, then I would definitely go check out Dayshell, as Bourget brings a lot of the heavy bass and amazing clean vocals that Of Mice & Men once had. However, if you’re absolutely loyal to Of Mice & Men and refuse to listen to any other band, then continue listening.
Now, this is not saying that I dislike Pauley and their new sound – in fact, I really love it. There is not one song on that album that gets under a rating of three, and most are fours or fives.
The album starts off with “Public Service Announcement”. This song was all Carlile, with no hint of Pauley in it. Which makes sense, considering the song is all about how Carlile’s personal life (or any of the other members’ personal lives) is none of anybody’s business, especially after Carlile spent a few days in jail on charges of Felonious Assault. I really like the song, even though it has no cleans on it.
The next song, “Feels Like Forever” isn’t quite my favorite song. I’m not sure why I didn’t really like it all that much, maybe because of all the other songs that included Pauley, this one wasn’t his greatest. The chorus just didn’t get me, and…I don’t know, it just wasn’t great.
“Bones Exposed,” “Glass Hearts,” “Break Free,” “Identity Disorder” and “You Make Me Sick” are all good. “Another You” is great, “Space Enough To Grow” is great, and “Would You Still Be There” is my favorite song.
“You’re Not Alone” is one of the most popular songs on this album — its release was Dec 1, and it had a huge amount of feedback from hardcore and new fans alike. However, one of the new favorites from fans is definitely “Bones Exposed,” which now has a music video, one that was released Feb 26.
All in all, this album was awesome. For die-hard fans, new fans and casual fans alike, this album will be sure to make you head-bang, with the volume turned up (though not all the way, as I do not promote hearing loss). You can pick this album up virtually everywhere, and if you want to, I suggest do it.