Senses Fail formed in the toxic yet somehow endearing wasteland known as New Jersey in 2001 when all of their five band members were too young to legally drink and do it, but old enough to know better. Vocalist James “Buddy” Nielsen is the only original member left, and the other current four rock and rollers are relatively new, with the second longest-tenured member not named Buddy a part of the five-piece since 2013. You’re dreaming a reality if you think that their debut breakout EP, “From The Depths Of Dreams,” which as the kids say, “slaps,” was re-recorded/re-imagined sixteen years after it originally hit stores, is technically a studio album. It isn’t, and so we happily watch your ground fold from the pain. Anyway, please read our rankings for all eight of Senses Fail’s LPs.
8. Pull the Thorns from Your Heart (2015)
“Pull the Thorns from Your Heart,” Senses Fail’s sixth studio album and first full-length for then-new label Pure Noise Records, current home to both The Story So Far and Fats Domino, is easily the biggest misstep in SF’s career, and even you trolls know we’re right. The LP had the misfortune of following up their most underrated album “Renacer,” and its majority sadly sounds like demos and B-Sides that never should’ve been unleashed on the world. On a more flattering note, and we say this with the courage of an open heart, we really dig its album cover, which is just as lavish as the studio, which they cut some of the record at. Also, the band recorded this album with Shaun Lopez of (Crosses), Far, The Revolution Smile, and Beethoven fame, but even Mr. Lopez couldn’t make good, great. Take refuge and surrender.
Play it again: “Carry the Weight”
Skip it: About a third of it
7. The Fire (2010)
“The Fire,” Senses Fail’s fourth studio album, and last for a non-imprint of Vagrant Records, has some good songs, but the total vibe is just a sea of overall exhaustion and tiredness that sadly puts out any je ne sais quoi of a positive metaphorically fire burning. Overall, it is the band’s first disjointed and inconsistent LP, and we believe that it truly slightly set the group back, until they came back with guns and lifeboats swinging and Saint Anthony shipwrecking on the aforementioned “Renacer,” the band’s follow-up departure, in the best way, record. When Irish eyes are smiling, err, smile.
Play it again: “New Year’s Eve”
Skip it: Just under a third of it
6. Hell Is in Your Head (2022)
Surprisingly to many, and certainly you, but not us, Senses Fail is still going strong in the year of our lord known as 2023, and released their eighth album “Hell Is in Your Head” the year before to great reviews. This particular record is the first to be listed here with little filler in your head, and we’ll die on that hill via water, plasma, or fire, but likely go to heaven instead of hell once we pass on because we’re perfect. Like its former, and next to be mentioned “If There Is Light, It Will Find You,” this LP was produced by Saosin’s Beau Birchell, and Mr. B successfully chewed the fat and brought out the best in SF. We’re excited to see what’s next for the five-piece, as it will be number nine, number nine, number nine.
Play it again: “I’m Sorry I’m Leaving”
Skip it: “Miles to Go”
5. If There Is Light, It Will Find You (2018)
Lucky #7 album “If There Is Light, It Will Find You” was a nostalgic, yet “current,” return to form for Senses Fail, and a necessary restart of an engine that many in the scene thought was corroded and smelled like the New Jersey Turnpike. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t and it isn’t right now either as the band appears to be set on a path to “career” status. Would you have thought such in the mid-aughts? Don’t answer that because moving forward, it’s always going to be Senses Fail’s year! This effort is the band’s best for Pure Noise Records as well.
Play it again: “New Jersey Makes, The World Takes”
Skip it: “Shaking Hands”
4. Renacer (2013)
The word “renacer” is Spanish for “reborn,” the term “mi amor” means “my love,” and SF embodies a love reborn throughout this record’s twelve biting tracks, and especially with the song title, “Closure / Rebirth.” This is also SF’s second heaviest record, as the lowest ranked one, “Pull the Thorns from Your Heart” takes the crown, albeit with a more saturated fats, anti-antioxidants, and artery cloggers, so “Renacer” is also their best heavy, screamy, loud AF and brutal blegh bowel moving breakdown effort. Also, this LP is the band’s first and only record on Staple Records, an imprint of Vagrant Records that also featured Thrice, La Dispute, and James Brown, and last via the Vagrant familia.
Play it again: “Between the Mountains and the Sea”
Skip it: “Courage of the Knife”
3. Let It Enfold You (2004)
As you know, a band only gets one chance to make their debut effort, and such can take almost a lifetime for some, OR a surprisingly short amount of time for others, but Senses Fail clearly supplanted their legacy in the Warped Tour mid-aughts post-hardcore/“screamo” world with their first album, and likely the majority’s intro to the NJ five-piece, the constantly misspelled “Let it Enfold You.” Produced by Steve Evetts, the man behind albums from Saves the Day and Ashlee Simpson, and a human who many bowed down reverentially to in the late-90s, the album debuted at thirty-four on the Billboard 100 and was certified gold, yes, gold.
Play it again: “NJ Falls Into the Atlantic”
Skip it: “Choke on This” mostly because of some cringey lyrics
2. Life Is Not a Waiting Room (2008)
Basically, this album was a perfect follow-up to their second record “Still Searching,” and an almost flawless one altogether. The band seemingly recently realized this album’s grower and not a shower legacy, and just got off a tour for the fifteenth, holy moly artichoke, anniversary of “Life Is Not a Waiting Room,” with openers Holding Absence, Thousand Below, and O-Town, and it needs to be mentioned via notarized contract here, that SF CONSTANTLY gives back to the rock world by taking smaller acts on the road with ‘em; much respect for the manner by which SF maps the streets of the scene as sort of elder statesmen.
Play it again: “Wolves at the Door”
Skip it: “May of the Streets”
1. Still Searching (2006)
“Still Searching” = Sophomore slump? Hell no. Even though every day is a struggle, we respond to said math inquiry by saying, “Far from it, priests, matadors, cars, and slap bracelets.” In addition, this is SF’s only “no skip” studio album, and producer Brian McTernan deserves crowded rooms of applause for successfully turning a group in mid-puberty to fully-grown competent and confident adults, which is more than showcased with better musicianship, lyrics, songs, and overall confidence; Maryland’s Salad Days Studio should get name-dropped almost as much as the states famous crab cakes.
Play it again: “The Rapture” to “The Priest and the Matador”
Skip it: Tito Santana’s short-lived WWF character “El Matador”