Sleeping With Sirens An Ending In Itself
Consensus is still forming across 3 professional reviews. Sleeping With Sirens's An Ending In Itself reunites the band with polished pop-punk hooks and arena-ready ambition while centering mental health and hope throughout its lyricism. Across professional reviews the record earns a tempered thumbs-up: critics note crafted choruses and fan-facing anthems even as some songs dr
House Of Matches is the best song due to its instant, sticky chorus and live appeal.
The review praises another album heavily, describing it as an impressive, mood-driven debut with strong songwriting and production.
Best for listeners looking for mental health and hope, starting with House Of Matches and Forever/Always.
Explore the full Chorus artist page, discography, and related genre paths.
See where this record sits inside the full critic-ranked discography.
Jump from this record into the broader critic-consensus lists for 2026.
Full consensus notes
Sleeping With Sirens's An Ending In Itself reunites the band with polished pop-punk hooks and arena-ready ambition while centering mental health and hope throughout its lyricism. Across professional reviews the record earns a tempered thumbs-up: critics note crafted choruses and fan-facing anthems even as some songs drift into predictable territory.
The critical consensus—a 74/100 score across 3 professional reviews—highlights recurring strengths and limits. Reviewers consistently praise the direct, emotive moments: “An Ending In Itself” and “Forever/Always” are singled out for their cathartic, hopeful reach, while “House Of Matches” and “Paralyzed” register as standout tracks for their memorable hooks and heavier, noughties-tinged punch. Critics from Beats Per Minute and Classic Rock Magazine also flagged the atmospheric restraint on cuts like “PTSD” and the record's knack for engineered commercial songwriting, noting that sparse arrangements and sampled drones occasionally sharpen the emotional core.
Not every reviewer was won over. Albumism and others argue the album's highs feel muted and isolated amid filler, making its best songs feel salvational rather than sustained. Still, professional reviews agree that the collection reconnects Sleeping With Sirens with their audience, mixing nostalgia, teen-life storytelling, and stadium-sized choruses into a package that, while uneven, offers essential moments of catharsis and fan connection.
For readers searching for an An Ending In Itself review or wondering what the best songs on An Ending In Itself are, the consensus points to “An Ending In Itself”, “Paralyzed”, “House Of Matches” and “Forever/Always” as the record's most compelling moments—enough to make the album worth hearing for long-time fans and curious newcomers alike.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
House Of Matches
1 mention
"House Of Matches is simply fantastic from start to finish."— Distored Sound Magazine
Forever/Always
1 mention
"Follow up Forever/Always is also an important single on the track list."— Distored Sound Magazine
Paralyzed
2 mentions
"it brings us back to the iconic noughties SLEEPING WITH SIRENS sound we first came to love."— Distored Sound Magazine
it brings us back to the iconic noughties SLEEPING WITH SIRENS sound we first came to love.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
An Ending In Itself
Forever/Always
God In My Head
Need You Here
Left On Repeat
House Of Matches
Waiting For You
Paralyzed
Process
PTSD
Looking Back At Me
Storm Clouds
Get the next albums worth your time.
Critic-backed picks in one clean digest. No clutter.
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 5 critics who reviewed this album
Di
Critic's Take
Sleeping With Sirens return with An Ending In Itself, and the best songs on the record prove why the band still matters. The title track “An Ending In Itself” opens emotionally, turning Kellin Quinn's mental-health struggles into hopeful catharsis. Equally, “Forever/Always” and “House Of Matches” are singled out as standout best tracks on An Ending In Itself, thanks to catchy choruses and stadium-ready hooks. For variety, “Paralyzed” provides the album's heaviest, noughties-tinged thrill, while some mid-album cuts feel predictable and less memorable.
Key Points
-
House Of Matches is the best song due to its instant, sticky chorus and live appeal.
Themes
Critic's Take
Ray Finlayson writes with the measured, analytical eye that characterised his Beats Per Minute pieces, noting how Sleeping With Sirens trims excess to let ambience breathe on An Ending In Itself. He singles out “PTSD” and “Paralyzed” as the clearest examples of where sparse arrangements and eerie drones pay off, arguing these best tracks on An Ending In Itself let sampled strings and low drones do the heavy lifting. The voice, low and restrained, suits the record - lyrics like the unsettling line about being taken for a ride puncture the calm. Overall he frames the album as a successful, if occasionally flawed, exploration of atmosphere and restraint.
Key Points
-
The album’s best song is a track where sparse ambience and drone create haunting payoff.
-
The record’s core strength is its restraint: pared-back arrangements that let atmosphere and lyrics stand out.
An
Critic's Take
The review does not discuss any songs from An Ending In Itself, so there are no cited best songs on An Ending In Itself to highlight.
Key Points
-
No individual tracks from the provided album are discussed in the review, so no best song can be identified.
-
The review praises another album heavily, describing it as an impressive, mood-driven debut with strong songwriting and production.
Al
Critic's Take
I kept expecting the record to catch fire, but on An Ending In Itself the highs are muted and the lows too close, so the best tracks stand out by contrast. Overall the album has moments of greatness but often drifts into blandness, making those highlights feel salvational.
Key Points
-
The album’s core strength is vivid lyricism in isolated moments, but overall it suffers from bland homogeneity.
Cl
Critic's Take
Sleeping With Sirens come at An Ending In Itself with the kind of streamlined pop-punk craftsmanship that practically guarantees sing-alongs, and Tom Bryant singles out moments that function as instant anthems. The reviewer’s ear latches on to tracks such as “Left On Repeat” and “Paralyzed” as brooding counterpoints amid an album of engineered hits, while praising the record’s knack for arena-sized choruses and immediate hooks. The best tracks, in his view, are where tenderness meets a practiced commercial punch, delivering both delicate acoustic turns and stadium-ready uplift.
Key Points
-
The best song works because it pairs genuine emotion with arena-ready, expertly crafted choruses.
-
The album’s core strength is its relentless, focus-grouped pop-punk songwriting designed for massive sing-alongs.