“When did you lose your sight for me?”
In the context of music discussions, “nostalgia” is often a loaded term. Nostalgia can be a powerful source of fan loyalty to a band, driving reliable concert and merch sales based on love for a certain sound or era. However, the term can also be used to imply that a band is past their peak and simply re-treading the glory days of their sound.
Fortunately, Armor For Sleep’s first new album in 15 years, The Rain Museum, provides an excellent case study in nostalgia done correctly. The Rain Museum succeeds in recapturing the band’s classic sound without ever feeling dated or pandering, and provides numerous signs of artistic growth and maturity along the way.
Armor For Sleep emerged as part of a wave of bands in the mid-2000s, including Senses Fail and Taking Back Sunday, who blended the angular riffs and aggression of post-hardcore with the more accessible hooks of pop punk. After hitting an early peak with 2005’s ambitious concept album What to Do When You Are Dead, the band disbanded in 2009, leaving behind a legacy of three beloved albums and seemingly walking away from the music industry for good. Although the band reunited for a handful of short tours in the decade since, they finally returned on a more permanent basis in 2020.
Like What to Do When You Are Dead, The Rain Museum is tied together by a conceptual narrative. It is one that frontman Ben Jorgensen began working on 15 years ago. At the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, Jorgensen decided to finally commit to completing the post-apocalyptic concept album he’d been envisioning for so long.
However, the abrupt end of Jorgensen’s marriage happened to coincide with the writing process for The Rain Museum, and he ended up pulling inspiration from his personal turmoil into the album’s fictional universe. The result is a record that deftly balances emotional intimacy and conceptual grandiosity. This balancing act is something that any Armor For Sleep fan will be acutely familiar with from their past albums. However, it is complemented here by genuinely refreshing sonic flourishes that gradually expand the band’s sonic palette.
Some tracks like standout single “Whatever, Who Cares” focus on dynamic riffs and pop punk hooks that transport the listener straight back to 2007 (in a good way). However, other songs like “Rather Drown” and “Tomorrow Faded Away” bring melancholy synth work and subtler musical textures to the forefront, without sacrificing the raw vulnerability that the band thrives on. These swings at artistic maturation go a long way toward preventing the album from seeming like a mere retread of past glories.
By the time the listener reaches the haunting piano-led slow build of closer “Spinning Through Time”, The Rain Museum feels like the start of a promising new era for Armor For Sleep. Far from being mere nostalgia bait, the album is instead part of a timeless lineage of great art born out of personal suffering. It is an introspective, emotionally-charged comeback that is also deeply relatable and rewards multiple listens. In other words, it is everything fans could hope for from an Armor For Sleep album in 2022.
9/10
The Rain Museum is available on September 9th via Equal Vision Records, and you can pre-order it here.