Wait In VainAh, yes a Seattle straight edge band with a hefty list of current and ex-members of prominent hardcore bands. The band started out as I Against I (Much Bad Brains appreciation), but have since changed the name to their current moniker. The members include Timm McIntosh formerly of the mighty Trial, Champion and currently The Warriors handling the vocals while Roger Kilburn of Love Is Red and Sinking Ships is handling guitar duties alongside Chris Jacobsen of Set Your Goals. I'm surprised I haven't heard anything about these guys until now, they have been around since early 2005 and actually were/are signed to State of Mind Recordings to release a LP, and considering the members they sport you would think kids would be talking about this band like crazy. Although, the band going through several drummers for one reason or another have certainly hindered them from taking it to the next level.
These guys wear their influences on their sleeves for sure. If you enjoy the catalogs of Burn, Beyond, and Judge you will definitely enjoy this. The opening song, which happens to be my favorite of the bunch is the longest clocking out at 4:02. The second is 2:57, third is 1:28 and the fourth and final track is 2:19, which totals just over 10 minutes. They do a good job of keeping the songs moving along, the melodic undercurrents and octaves that they use add a great deal of urgency to their sound.
Lyrically, you get a good mix from Timm. The opening song, "Passion Just Like Mine" is about living your life and trying to break free from the 9 to 5 lifestyle. "The Fix" is pretty self explanatory but is the only straight edge oriented song of the bunch. Q and... is well written song about people blindly following religion. The final song, which is the title track of the demo is a song about not allowing the memories, good or bad, of a relationship that has come to an end. All of the themes of been done, but I liked Timm's writings and there is a good mix. If they can keep up a good mix of lyrical content like this on a full length I would be all over that shit.
For a demo this sounds damn good. I really like the guitar tone, it's got the perfect balance of crunch and clean. The bass tone is warm and fluid and has plenty of leg room in the mix. The drums are on point, the cymbals sound awesome and the snare has a good tone, it isn't obnoxiously loud but it's got enough pop. Couldn't have done much better with the vocals.
This one was put together very nicely. The multilayered packaging was a good approach. The one inch paper band with the bands name written in red on the front and the song titles on the back, holds together the tissue paper that wraps around the professionally printed CD-R that has a Greek goddess of sorts printed on the face. The image on the CD contrasted by the white tissue paper is eye catching. The only gripe I have is how hard it is to read the lyrics on the insert, granted the cursive font looks nice but when it is so small it's hard on the eyes, even for a person with 20/20 vision. Luckily Timm's voice is easily decipherable so you can make without it.
Rating: 3.75/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Passion Just Like Mine
Synopsis: Definitely a band worth checking out. The demos are cheap, you can score one from REVHQ.com for 3.50. But if your broke or just plain cheap the band is courteous enough to have the entire demo for download on their myspace page http://www.myspace.com/waitinvain Hopefully these guys will be able to find themselves a drummer or they will be another band swept under the rug.