June 16th, 2011 
James Shotwell 
Artist: I Set My Friends On Fire
Album: Astral Rejection
Genre: Hardcore/punk
Label: Epitaph
We all make mistakes and I feel I must admit to one in this review A few years ago, the debut album from I Set My Friends On Fire arrived here at Under The Gun Review and we graced it with a 6/10 score. As many of you are probably thinking now, that score is a bit ridiculous. At the time, I was able to look past the dreadful cover song that had gotten them attention and admire the attempt at creating something unique they had undertaken. However, upon hearing Astral Rejection (out June 21), I couldn’t help feeling like the mad scientist moments after his monster escapes the lab (aka, full of regret).
We do our best to support talent we believe not only has a shot at quote/unquote “making it,” but also that which brings a unique twist to the industry overall. Bands like Foxy Shazam, fun., and The Dear Hunter exist in the same realm as many “popular bands,” but still carve a niche all their own that everyone instantly recognizes as “their sound.” They carry an image and sound that cannot be duplicated without throngs of internet trolls (such as ourselves) crying foul and it is bands like that we had hoped I Set My Friends On Fire would eventually become.
Regardless of how you feel about their spastic style of hardcore dipped punk, it is safe to say I Set My Friends On Fire stand alone in their genre (if you can call it that) and that deserves recognition. That said, if you are going to be “groundbreaking,” you also need to continually push yourself and the style of music you have created forward. Astral Rejection not only fails to accomplish either of these things, it essentially kills any desire the listener has in hearing another attempt at growth from this group again. Where You Can’t Spell Slaughter… brought fresh ideas and lyrical insanity to the plate, Astral Rejection delivers us only a second, immensely less satisfying or well prepared helping of the original concepts. It is honestly as if the band recorded all the tracks, including those on their debut, at once, then decided these should be cut from the debut because they’re slightly deeper musically, and sat on them for years, only recently deciding to release them.
I wanted to see I Set My Friends On Fire prove the masses wrong. While their rise to national attention may have been a gimmick, they definitely started out trying to do something incredibly unique. Astral Rejection failed to not only entertain me, but left me with zero interest in hearing or experiencing this act again. A complete disappointment.
SCORE: 3.5/10
Review written by: James Shotwell
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Sorry, but I loved the album! It sounds very similar to YCPSWL, but more finely tuned, heavier and much more evolved. It pays to have a couple new guitarists and the ex-drummer from FFTL join in. Nibru may be gone but the band is still great and this album doesn’t’ disappoint at all if you’re a fan of the last. Vocals are slightly different but still wild as ever as the band successfully fuses pop, punk and experimental hardcore. This man obviously was not a fan of their last album, or even a real listener of their music in general, so I really can’t take his word at all for this. I can understand others disliking it though, to each his own, it takes a very open mind to take in all of its insanity.
Vocals are incredibly different, and definitely not good. Instrumentation is spastic but not catchy or heavy. This album couldn’t be more different than the first.
I just got my copy of this album that I preordered from Epitaph and I have to say I love it! Yes, this album may sound a bit different than the last but like you said in your review, they stand alone in their genre and I believe they have made some solid growth as a band as far as developing their unique sound on this album. I found that this album got better when listening to it a few times through so my advice is be patient with it and give it a chance! One of my favorite albums of the summer so far!