Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	91/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AbsolutePunk	9.5/10
AllMusic
Alternative Press
Clash	7/10
Exclaim!	6/10
Punknews.org

No Closer to Heaven is the fifth studio album by American rock band The Wonder Years. Struggling with writer's block, vocalist Daniel Campbell spoke with several friends who were in bands for inspiration. No Closer to Heaven is a concept album, detailing the loss of a loved one. The album was recorded between March and April 2015. It was produced by Steve Evetts at The Omen Room. "Cardinals" was released as a single in June, followed by "Cigarettes & Saints" a month later. "I Don't Like Who I Was Then" was made available for streaming in August. "Thanks for the Ride" was made available for streaming in early September. No Closer to Heaven was released through Hopeless on September 4. The Target edition featured two additional tracks.

Between 2010 and 2013 The Wonder Years released a trilogy of albums (The Upsides [2010], Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing [2011] and The Greatest Generation [2013]) that dealt with vocalist Daniel Campbell's struggles of being scared, loneliness and feeling lost. These albums helped increase the band's popularity, "cementing themselves as [pop punk]'s leading force", according to Alternative Press reviewer Evan Lucy. In spring 2014 the band went on The Greatest Generation World Tour. In May, Campbell announced a solo project, Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties. With this project, Campbell pushed himself "to make a piece of fiction feel just as raw and personal as songs about my life". An album, We Don't Have Each Other, was released in July. Campbell performed on a few dates of the 2014 edition of Warped Tour.

I was like, 'We're over. The band's over and I've let everyone down and it's my fucking fault and my best friends who are relying on me to write lyrics – I've failed them all. I've failed everybody and I am the fucking worst.' I'd just lay around depressed.

On September 2, 2014 Campbell posted a photo with caption "Since our last practice spot was condemned by the board of health, we'll be writing our next record in this new luxurious practice space". On November 13, the band began writing material for their next album. Campbell later revealed that he suffered chronic writer's block while coming up with new ideas. He would frequently sit in his girlfriend's apartment, walk to a coffee shop, and sit by a riverside – all of which failing to inspire him. Campbell frequently hit his notebook in frustration. By January 2015 Campbell started feeling depressed, then started panicking, which turned to rage. Instead of giving up, Campbell started talking to the lyricists from both Fireworks and Hostage Calm, Ace Enders of The Early November, and Jason Aalon Butler of letlive.. These conversations helped Campbell rebuild his confidence.

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