Waves Of Distortion - Shattered - Album Review

Another hectic Tuesday afternoon here in my surreal life in Helsinki, currently listening to and writing about a passionate up-and-coming band: Waves of Distortion, hailing from Sacramento, California. Their second studio album, Shattered, has been on my radar for the last week, and now I finally found the time to write about it. The album was released not long ago, on May 25, 2024.

Waves Of Distortion – ECLIPSE (Official Music Video). Video Production: Eval Entertainment Director: Eval Producers: Glen Evans – Brennen Von Slack.

First of all, I would like to start by emphasizing the fact that Shattered is a good-sounding album with the necessary quality to make an impact on the listener, although imperfect. Waves of Distortion prefers trendy-sounding modern soundscapes for their concept. I found my listening experience positive each time, and I firmly believe that they have done a good job.

Secondly, the album consists of melodic, easy-listening music regardless of its heavy instrumentation, reminding me of a modern melodic metalcore version of Linkin Park. The musical concept incorporates additional alternative and melodic metalcore influences in its origins as mentioned above, performed by a passionate collective that stands out for its commercial value. In this case, my favorite track, Mars, caught my full attention on my first listen, and that doesn’t happen very often. So my conclusion is, after listening to the album a few times on repeat, that Waves of Distortion is talented at writing new music, even though they are in the early stages of development.

Moreover, the vocalist naturally stands out for his role and character, reminding me of Maynard James Keenan of Tool, Jonathan Davis of Korn, and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. He can sing melodically and also deliver growling performances that emphasize Waves of Distortion’s modern metalcore side. He solely provides the main character to the band’s sound, also supported by the producer with additional vocal personalities. I see all these as part of the collective’s creativity and experience.

Waves Of Distortion, performing live. Photo credit: unknown.

On the other side of the coin, I can see a few things that can help this band become better, which I would like to share not as an expert but as a music enthusiast. However, I don’t want them to sound like criticism, so I will put it this way: If I were asked to produce their upcoming record, this is what I would have in mind.

First of all, I think Waves of Distortion needs to have the main focus on their vocal characterization. In other words, their sound design has to start from the vocal character and build on top of it because that is the basis of everything humanly happening in the music, which at the same time is the most foundational element in music regardless of everything else.

Secondly, has the band already dropped their tuning specifically for the vocalist’s vocal range? Or did they just drop it to the most trendy and generic tuning and continued with it because it’s somehow the standard? I asked myself this while listening to the record because I am not convinced that this is his best-performing range, and that can cause a problem. This would be another element that I would work on as a must.

Lastly, the band can deliver good songs, so they can use all the character and value the producer can provide. Shattered is a good-sounding album objectively, as I mentioned earlier. However, this is just a step forward in the band’s development, and they have so much room to improve in terms of distinctive sound designs.

In conclusion, Shattered is a good-sounding album that was performed, recorded, mixed, and produced properly, which I enjoyed most importantly for its balanced standards. A good-sounding modern melodic metalcore record that stood out to me for its balanced approach and commercial value, evoking memories of Linkin Park and their ability to write catchy songs with heavy instrumentation and electronic elements. Thank you for reading.

Waves Of Distortion, Shattered front album cover artwork. Art credit: Unknown.

Waves Of Distortion:
Bass: Glen Evans
Drums: Dustin Slack
Guitar: Brennen Von Slack
Vocals: Joe Fox

Audio Production:
Producer: Brennen Von Slack
Written and Performed by: Waves of Distortion
Produced, Engineered, and Mastered by: Nick Miller
Drums recorded and edited
By: Jesse Fíoren “CrowKeeper Studios”
Drums written and performed
by: Isaiah AR