I’m pretty sure all of you know what kind of bands dominate the roster of Fearless Records. You got it right – post-hardcore. For All Those Sleeping is yet another one of those bands, albeit not as well known as most other bands signed to Fearless. But don’t let that fool you – For All Those Sleeping have already made a decent name for themselves by appearing at several big events throughout the States such as Warped Tour and Cornerstone Festival, even before they got signed in late 2009.

Cross Your Fingers is For All Those Sleeping’s label-debut album, and Fearless’ influence on the album definitely shows. If you compare the material on Cross Your Fingers with their self-released EP from 2008, The Lies We Live, they have developed a much more generic sound on par with many other Fearless bands. The vocals have changed dramatically (most notably the cleans), and the recording quality has greatly improved (not surprising, since it’s a pretty big step between recording it yourself and having professional help). The clean vocals have changed completely, but I have to say it’s for the worse. The old cleans were basically incomparable, whereas the new ones are pretty much just one in the masses. The reoccurring deep growls from The Lies We Live are completely gone; however, the screams are fairly similar.

To be honest, there’s something special about their new sound. There’s a certain power in the screams that I really like – heard especially in “I Hate To See You Go”. And about that song…it starts off very melodic, almost pop punk-ish, but then those powerful screams come like a smack to the face. It truly was an eye-opener, literally. I actually stopped doing whatever I was doing and sat with my eyes wide open for a moment. It may sound a bit melodramatic, but it actually happened!

Even though Cross Your Fingers does have that modern-post-hardcore-cliché sound to it, For All Those Sleeping somehow manages to keep it interesting from beginning to end. It’s very catchy in general and has lots of sections fit for sing-a-longs. The breakdowns may be present just for the sake of it at times, but they’re well performed nonetheless.

Cross Your Fingers is, despite the band’s change of style, a good follow-up to The Lies We Live and it will most assuredly grant me a lot of happy moments of listening.

4.0/5