Album Review: ‘An Ending In Itself’ Brings Sleeping With Sirens Full Circle
Photo credit: Travis Shinn
Sleeping With Sirens are back with their eighth studio album, An Ending In Itself, out June 12 via Rise Records. The release marks the band's return to the label home of their early catalog and 2016's Feel, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
Produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Circa Survive, Movements), the album stretches 12 tracks and picks up where the band left off in 2022. Frontman Kellin Quinn describes it as both a culmination and a continuation of the emotional and thematic arcs of How It Feels to Be Lost (2019) and Complete Collapse (2022).
Having already released two singles in “An Ending In Itself" and “Forever/Always," the band's third and final pre-release single “Paralyzed" dropped a couple weeks ago.
“‘Paralyzed’ is one of the heaviest songs on the new record. We had a blast making it and really leaned into the bands that shaped and inspired us growing up - artists like Thrice, The Used, and Haste The Day. It’s aggressive, emotional, and captures a side of us we’ve always loved exploring.”
We got an early listen of An Ending In Itself and have plenty to say, so keep scrolling for our full track-by-track guide, where “Paralyzed" was one of our clear favorites!
The album will arrive in several color variants on vinyl. Some exclusive pre-orders are already sold out, but we spotted a Golden Pearl at Alternative Press and a Black Ice at Hot Topic.
An Ending In Itself is Sleeping With Sirens’ 8th Studio Album, and marks their return to Rise Records.
Sleeping With Sirens will make several festival appearances through the end of the year, including Welcome to Rockville, Warped Tour (DC, Long Beach, and Orlando), Inkcarceration, Louder Than Life, and Aftershock. The band will then head to Europe for a Winter 2027 run. Tickets and full tour info can be found at sirensmusic.co/tour.
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Track Notes
An Ending In Itself – 3:36
The title track wastes zero time, dropping straight into clean vocals that set the tone for everything that follows on this album. The breakdown around the two-minute mark is your first real invitation to headbang.
Forever/Always – 3:43
A slower, more subdued build on this one. After the bridge, guitars and vocals lead you into an emotionally charged outro, perfect for the back end of a setlist, where you want the crowd to be present.
God In My Head – 3:58
The opening riffs on this one give it promise, but we would have liked to see that energy carry through the whole track. There's a great song here, but perhaps the changes in tempo don't fully land like we want them to.
Need You Here – 4:06
Possible candidate for your road trip playlist this summer. Windows down, volume up. Plenty of breakdowns for the dashboard drummers or the harmonizers in the back row.
Left On Repeat – 3:24
A song about being stuck in the same cycle of insecurities, the hook goes on and on and on. Which of course is the whole point behind this one.
House Of Matches – 3:01
Front to back, we really enjoyed this one. No clever tricks or hooks needed to keep the listener engaged. The songwriting stands on its own, both lyrically and and in its delivery.
Waiting For You – 4:02
Another strong track embedded in the heart of the record. It keeps the momentum building toward the back half. (We'll admit, we have a bias toward tracks that drive the tempo rather than drift aimlessly.)
Paralyzed – 3:12
One of the clear standouts of the album. A healthy balance between heavy and melodic, we hope this song makes it into their setlist this year. We're deeming it mosh-worthy.
Process – 4:30
It's not a bad song, but honest reaction: it feels a bit dialed in compared to what surrounds it. In a tracklist this strong, even a slight dip is noticeable. But hey, songwriting is a process, and everything has its purpose.
PTSD – 2:25
The shortest song on the record, and it earns every second. True to its name, it feels like an anxiety attack, drums firing like a rapid heartbeat. The track closes with a well-placed “f-ck," which we have all said on more than one occasion at the end of a moment of panic.
Looking Back At Me – 5:18
The shift from "PTSD"'s chaos into the longest track on the album works surprisingly well, using acoustic guitars and clean vocals to grow into something genuinely complex and mature. In heavier music, too many bands feel confined to keeping songs under four minutes. This one gets more room to breathe, and it shows.
It's a strong candidate for either opening a set cold or closing one on a high note. One of our favorites on the record.
Storm Clouds – 3:38
A fitting close. We questioned the song order during our first listen, but the second time through it's clear the band sequenced this record with intention. “Storm Clouds" lands right where it needs to… and perhaps foreshadows where the band takes its narrative next.
