Here’s a review I’d never thought I’d write. I have written tons of music reviews over the years, I was lucky enough to get approached by artists straight away and get paid to write. I’ve rarely felt the need to write about a song by a band that I listen to in my spare time. The problem with almost all of these bands is the fact that they regress, rather than progress. In other words, they start to make music that is just not as good as the older stuff. This was also the case with the band that this article is about and it actually pains me to say this. The band is called Senses Fail and the album that I grew up listening to (the benchmark against all their other music) is called Still Searching. There is an official Wikipedia page about it, you can check it out if you are not familiar with this band, or the album: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Searching
Anyways, I kept listening to this band for almost 20 years now and like I said, things just didn’t sound as good as on the second album called Still Searching. But that has now changed and I’m so blown away by this that I really feel the need to write about it. I’m talking specifically about the brand-new single ‘End of the World / A Game of Chess” Ft. Connie Sgarbossa. Here is the song with the official video on Youtube:
The Single was released on the 15th of June, so this review is slightly delayed from the point of release, because I actually got quite reluctant to listen to their new releases. I guess I just felt like Senses Fail really had their senses starting to fail (pun intended). But, as soon as singer Buddy Nielsen starts to sing the line ‘My cousin hung himself’ and the down-tuned, distorted guitar plays a very simple, yet catchy riff in the background, I felt that the tide might have turned and somehow they got their spark back. In fact, the entire intro-verse really got my hopes up, so here it is:
My cousin hung himself in the backyard from a tree
My uncle drank himself to death
There is always blood deep beneath the roots that we bury
The fruit has been rotten from the seed
When he shouts ‘YEAH!’ (At 18 seconds into the song) and the main-melody of the song starts, it’s almost like the old Senses Fail are back, but with new energy and an even stronger sound. The sound of the humbuckers in those guitars is just insane. It even makes some metal band sound like jokes. The mixing and mastering is definitely done to perfection as well.
This song basically just has 4 chords in the verse, which is quite typical for a pop song, but the thing is this is not pop music, this is down-tuned, heavy stuff. Another thing that I love about this band is the fact that their verses often rock even more than the intro/chorus. Most band take it down a notch for the verses, but with Senses Fail it used to be full on throughout the entire song. I’m happy to hear that this song does that as well, there are small sections where the guitars almost stop completely, for example at 49 seconds where Buddy sings ‘I’ll help you break these chains.’ I think when I heard that line for the first time I could kind of sense this song is going to be something special.
Then there is the chorus. The last line is perhaps the most powerful one: ‘At the end of the world I promise I will be there’. This is a very powerful promise to everyone who is listening, because honestly, there were times when I wasn’t so sure Buddy would be around for much longer.
The second verse in particular might just be the best verse that Buddy has ever written. This is so beautiful it could win an award at a poetry competition. Here it is:
My father told me that he never should have had kids
My mother is a narcissist
I promise that my pain won't be your coffin nail
I promise that I'll heal for you and I'll sew up all these open wounds
I'll do it all for you
The last 2 sentences are the strongest and I just can’t get over all of this positivity in this! I mean, I’m not saying he’s like a motivational speaker, there is still an overall melancholy, a dark cloud hanging over this song and this band (if you want to put it like that), but at last the cloud is getting smaller and you can kind of see some hints of sunshine.
Just when I talked about all the positivity the darkest part of the song begins. The breakdown is just outstanding in this track and the addition of Connie Sgarbossa certainly makes this section shine even more. People in the YouTube comment-section certainly love her and the fact that she has been included in this, but honestly this song would still be brilliant without her. I adore the line ‘when I look into your eyes I see the Universe’. This is exactly how I’ve always felt when I listened to Senses Fail, at least the earlier releases. I always felt like I could hear the universe, as strange as this may sound.
What makes this song stand out from their older stuff and also all the other music that is being released every second of every day by countless bands is the fact that there is a certain standard here, an attention to detail if you will, that most bands can only dream of. For example, the official music video flows perfectly with the song. At 18 seconds, there is a cut to singer Buddy as he screams ‘YEAH!’ and he even does a little kick. But it’s not just that, it’s the lighting on the set (the apartment), the entire retro-style, the fact that they actually hired an actor on top of the band performing the song, the placement of every single band member, the camera angles, there is so much to unpack here. I can’t type fast enough to list all of the reasons why this is so well done.
The song ends with the chorus and at this stage I’m thinking this is a masterpiece. I’ve listened to this for days on end now, I’ve listened to it while eating, tidying, editing, chilling and obviously writing this. This song is so well done it becomes like a meditation after a while, at least in my ears. It is such a joy for me to hear Buddy say that he will heal for his child/children. I mean, sure, I’m kinda sad he doesn’t feel that way about his listeners, but can I really blame him for that? Certainly not.
I guess I’ll get to the part where I really understood that this something truly special once again, because I just can’t get over it:
The line ‘when I look into your eyes I see the Universe’.
By itself, this might not look like much, but having listened to this guy my entire life and feeling the pain of decreasing song-quality (which, perhaps, was in line with a decreasing life-quality, depression, anxiety, etc), it is so relieving to hear such deeply hopeful, passionate words coming from a man that I thought was lost (and as I result the listener was lost as well).
The next thing that almost knocked me off my chair is the second verse (like I said before). He sang about his family before, however, there is this new angle, perhaps because he’s a father himself now. He’s making promises and I think he will actually keep them. I’m not just talking about the promise in these lyrics, I’m talking about a promise to all of the listeners out there, a promise that Senses Fail is not over yet.
This song is also a great example of a single that’s better than entire albums by certain other bands . I seriously can’t believe the video has not got millions of views yet. Perhaps there are more people who feel like me about this band (previous releases being not as good at their second album) and maybe people need some time to find out about this new single and actually listen to it, in order to realise just how good this is.
I would absolute love to hear an acoustic version of this song as well. There is an acoustic version of the song “Death by Water’ and “I’m sorry I’m leaving’, but sadly not this one. At least not yet.
There is a comment under the video on Youtube that says ‘Just saw Buddy in instagram Live, he said this new song is the best he has ever written!’ And I think it’s fair to say this is a very accurate statement. So, do yourself a favour and check out the brand-new single by Senses Fail and make sure to follow them:
Spotify: https://lnk.to/SensesFail_Music/spotify
iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/album/hell-is-in-your-head/1592777304
Website: http://www.sensesfail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sensesfailofficial/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SensesFail
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sensesfail
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sensesfail