Sleeping With Sirens have delivered one of the heaviest tracks of their career with the release of ‘Paralyzed’, the latest preview of forthcoming album An Ending In Itself, due June 12 through Rise Records. The Florida formed post-hardcore band unveiled the song without advance notice, offering fans a first look at a record the group says reconnects with the raw instincts that defined its early years.
by Paul Cashmere
The release arrives at a pivotal moment for the band, which has spent more than 15 years navigating the shifting boundaries between emo, post-hardcore, alternative rock and mainstream pop influences. While recent releases leaned further into melodic accessibility, ‘Paralyzed’ signals a decisive swing back toward the heavier dynamics that established Sleeping With Sirens during the Warped Tour era of the early 2010s.
Frontman Kellin Quinn described the track as one of the most aggressive moments on the new album.
“Paralyzed is one of the heaviest songs on the new record,” Quinn said. “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.”
Produced by Will Yip, whose credits include Turnstile, Circa Survive and Movements, the track layers dense guitar work with Quinn’s signature high register vocals, balancing breakdown-driven metalcore passages against melodic choruses. The production approach appears designed to bridge the band’s earlier post-hardcore identity with the polished sonic framework of their more recent material.
The album also represents a significant label reunion. An Ending In Itself will be the band’s first release through Rise Records since 2013’s Feel, the album that delivered the group its highest Billboard 200 chart position at No. 3 in the United States. Since then, Sleeping With Sirens have moved through Epitaph, Warner Bros. and Sumerian Records while experimenting with a broader pop and alternative rock palette.
Quinn said the new album acts both as a continuation and a reset.
“It feels like a final chapter to the last couple of records,” he said. “But it also has a lot of our second record, Let’s Cheers To This, in it. That energy where we weren’t trying to fit in anywhere and we just made the record we wanted to make.”
“A lot of what this record is about is not giving up hope, and finding faith in the middle of hardships.”
That thematic direction places the album in direct conversation with 2019’s How It Feels To Be Lost and 2022’s Complete Collapse, records that dealt heavily with mental health, isolation and emotional instability. The new material appears to expand on those ideas while reintroducing the abrasive instrumentation that helped build the band’s original fanbase.
Sleeping With Sirens first emerged in 2009, founded by former members of Orlando bands Paddock Park and For All We Know. Their breakthrough arrived with the 2010 single ‘If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn’ from debut album With Ears To See And Eyes To Hear. The follow-up album Let’s Cheers To This cemented their commercial rise, driven by ‘If You Can’t Hang’, which later achieved double platinum certification in the United States.
Across seven studio albums, the band has consistently shifted stylistically. Early releases leaned heavily into screamo and post-hardcore, while albums such as Madness and Gossip introduced stronger pop-rock structures and mainstream crossover ambitions. The return to a heavier sound in recent years mirrors a broader movement within alternative music, where legacy emo and metalcore acts are reconnecting with their heavier origins as younger audiences rediscover the genre through streaming platforms and social media.
The timing is notable. The resurgence of interest in Warped Tour era bands has intensified over the past several years, fuelled by nostalgia-driven festivals and renewed visibility for post-hardcore acts among Gen Z audiences. Sleeping With Sirens remain active participants in that revival while continuing to evolve beyond it. The band has already been confirmed for multiple major US rock festivals in 2026, including Welcome To Rockville, Inkcarceration Festival, Louder Than Life and Aftershock.
Internally, the group has also undergone substantial change over the past decade. Drummer Matty Best joined in 2019 following the departure of longtime member Gabe Barham, while Tony Pizzuti entered the lineup in 2022 after guitarist Jack Fowler exited the band. Quinn also launched solo project Haunted Mouths in 2025, further broadening his creative output outside the group.
For Sleeping With Sirens, An Ending In Itself appears positioned as both reflection and reinvention. The title itself suggests closure, but the rollout surrounding ‘Paralyzed’ indicates a band still intent on pushing forward rather than revisiting the past for nostalgia alone. Whether the heavier direction extends across the entire record remains to be heard, but the early material suggests the band is reconnecting with the urgency that first propelled it from underground clubs to festival main stages.
Tracklisting:
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 History
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