Album Review : Restoring Force

Of Mice & Men is an amazing metalcore band hailing from California. I've mentioned them in a few different posts in passing, but seeing as their new album, Restoring Force, came out yesterday, I thought I'd try my hand at an album review.




Restoring Force is the third studio album from Of Mice & Men, and the first featuring Aaron Pauley as the clean vocalist. (For those not familiar with the band/the genre of music, many bands feature two vocalists, one singer who does the 'clean' vocals, or what most people recognize as 'normal' singing, and another who does the screaming- in OM&M's case, these are Aaron Pauley and Austin Carlile, respectively.) This was a highly anticipated album by fans of the band and genre alike, and no one was disappointed. Within 24 hours of the album's release, it had hit the top of the rock and overall album charts on Itunes, beating out competitors like Bruce Springsteen, the Beatles, the new Frozen soundtrack and even the compilation of songs from the 2014 Grammys.

Of Mice & Men really expanded their range on this album- their normal angry growling grit is definitely still there, but it's juxtaposed beautifully by more melodic pieces such as "Would You Still Be There" and "Space Enough To Grow". The band also explores more of a pure rock sound with songs like "Feels Like Forever".

Lyrically this is definitely my favorite album of the band's- Austin Carlile promised fans questioning the album's lyrical content on Twitter months before the release that the lyrics would be much more inspirational and relatable, and nowhere is that more apparent than on the first single the band released, "You're Not Alone". The lyrics overall on this album have a much more personal feel, from the comforting lyrics of "You're Not Alone", speaking of staying true to oneself and keep going through hardships, to Carlile's discussing his brief 3 days in jail in "Public Service Announcement", the album's opening track.

The album has met mostly positive reviews so far from critics, with Loudwire calling it a "pivotal piece in what will be the band's musical legacy", giving it 4 out of 5 stars, starsentertainment.com giving it a 3.5/5, Under The Gun Reviews giving it a 9/10 and Pupfresh giving it an 8/10.

I'd have to agree with all the reviews I've read- this is by far my favorite album by this band. I get to see them, alongside Bring Me The Horizon, letlive., and Issues, on Valentine's Day and I couldn't possibly be more ecstatic.