Wicked Waltz are a Floridian prog power metal band and as this peninsula has a bit of a history in offering few but high quality bands, (being better known as the land of the retirees and pornstars! LOL even if a certain someone strived to combine all those roles, into one I suppose, haha) I was expecting nothing but something quite, interesting at the very least and spectacular if I would be lucky!
Turns out that in the case of Wicked Waltz, we almost struck gold! After the sad demise of Crimson Glory, for yet another time, at least a decent band rises from the very scene that gave us bands like them, Kamelot and Savatage, among others, with a quite impressive debut…
“Perseverance” is choke full of lyrical, melodic power metal that owes a lot to the 80s and early 90s metal of bands like all the aforementioned and Fates Warning, Queensryche and the likes… and the quality of this debut reality brought to my mind the excitement of “discovering” for the first time the debut of Jacobs Dream for instance that had really blown my mind… at the time…
“Ssi” is a really spirited and very melodic instrumental, that opens the album and has some sharp guitar solos, that I’m not quite sure to what exactly it might refer? Could it pay homage to the 90s PC strategy company? Is it something else? Who knows…
“Lifemare” begins with an intricate and rather dark riff that quickly gets, followed by keys and more guitars and the entire band joining in. But the true apocalypse in Jasyn Rushing with his impressive vocal delivery and defiant style really making this as well as most of the songs on the album sound timeless and classic. He has the “tone” of some of those “classic” guys from the 80s without even trying to imitate it.
“A Heart that Can’t Bleed” with its subtle, key flourishes will simply one of the most wonderful songs I have heard in a while, very melodic and lyrical, with an incredible escalating chorus.
“Man Made Faith” takes thing a bit to the left of the field and becomes a little extreme with the vocals becoming shrieks at times, even somewhat reminiscent of a tamer more contained Mind Odyssey in a tune that’s melodic yet technical but twisted and sick and a little thrashy at the same time… it’s quite different and daring to say at least…
“Charm City” extends to about over eight minutes and is quite loose and sultry and heavy all things considered, but while it’s not a bad song, at over eight minutes it becomes a little too long and plodding…
“Pieces” is a minute and a half of almost acapella singing with minimum guitar accompaniment, a very tender ballad piece which is very tender and very beautiful…
Only to be followed by the too fast and furiously developing “Dream Again” that comes about, hard hitting… and talking about that… on drums, we find none other than Kamelot’s own Casey Grillo who’s doing a fabulous job all through the album aided by bassist Mike Wyatt. Also highly commendable is the great interplay between keyboardist Jeff Quiggle and Jamie and Micah who offer great layers of melody and are responsible for some incredible ideas throughout…
On “So Cold (Personal Hell)” things become more emotionally charged and mellow and tempos decline as the sound envelopes the listener sweetly like a blanket… to offer some warmth… genial.
“The Battle Within” explores some really progressive tendencies, with Rushing going for it… the point it that since he’s singing at possibly what appears to be the top of his range while he’s quite a likeable singer, on certain phrases, there are time certain phrases that he really stretches his range for maybe he sounds momentarily a little “thin” & possibly previously “green”. Which is bearable and passable.
“The Darkness” begins in a slow and melodic, almost theatrical way, a little reminiscent of Savatage one would even dare say, only to drop some short, chunky representative riffs, to continue with its nightmarish almost theatrical “shenanigans”…
“Hated By Others” has a bit too many modern, elements, vocally, to make a good song, being another highly experimental and quite theatrical number, with lots of “dialogues” going on…
Last but not least is (surprise!!) “My Last Wish” which begins with some rather cheesy keyboard intro and could have been another winner if not for the somewhat “overdone” chorus at least the first time around at least when it’s reprised… it’s done in a better way.
All in all, if we forgive a few missteps by this young and exciting band their debut is certainly very impressive and they are a band to watch out! Certainly they can improve production wise and hone and refine their skills further, but they are damn good actually!
