Waxeater: Sleeper
September 14th was the release date for Waxeater’s Sleeper. The trio from Bloomington, Indiana play a hybrid of punk and rock and roll. Their heavy bass, loud drums, and screechy guitar are what I imagine Hatebreed to sound like if you were to remove the powerful amps they use.
Inside the album is a photo of Waxeater playing in what looks like a basement. Concrete walls, insulated ducts all around, and the amps pushed into the corners. Unfortunately, the album sounds a bit like it was recorded down there as well. The vocals sound like a person screaming a few feet away from the microphone. And the backup vocals sound like they’re screaming into the same mic only farther away. It does make it difficult to understand the lyrics, but that’s not what this music is about.
It’s all about energy, and there is plenty of that. At times it is very appealing, and at others it just lacks anything new. The opening track “Are Those Fucking Beers Ice Cold Yet?” starts off loud. That’s about it, just loud. A minute into the song, things pick up as the song goes less for punk and more for the rock. The lead guitar takes over for about ten seconds before falling back into the old routine as a mind-numbing blare of noise. It sort of feels as though Rob Montage (guitar) had a momentary lapse and started playing modern rock. And then he realized where he was and reverted to noise.
“Warmliness is a Happy Gun (Et Tu Brut?) starts like something you might hear from Sevendust, or any of their fellow acts. It is loud, heavy, and actually has a decent feel to it. I feel it is the best representation of what Waxeater could be. The rest of the album doesn’t stand out as much. It feels like a what of a lot of other underground punk/rock acts have done. There’s no signature here to make Waxeater stand out.
Rating: 3.8/10
MP3: Waxeater “Warmliness is a Happy Gun (Et Tu Brut?)
Buy: iTunes
Waxeater: Sleeper
