Waves Of Distortion
Race Against Time
(Twizted Records)

Leading their press with a quote from C.S. Lewis, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world,” we realize we won’t be treated to the usual metal riot crash on Waves Of Distortion’s Race Against Time.

A Josiah Fox scream gets us into the blistering opener “R.A.T.” (we get his screaming again), but a smart slowing of speed informs the chorus that gives this tune a little breath. “Original Sin,” only three tunes in, slows things down (well, until the chorus) with a scary plucked electric and Fox finding a good melody to get his solid pipes around. “No Theory” is another slow starter (I rather like Waves when they leave some space with echo guitars and give Fox enough to chew on the lyric) with an actual groove to the noisy chorus. At the three-minute-mark guitarist, Brennen Von Slack, gets into the chording that’s common in this genre, but the guys turn it around to bring us back to the main melody and chanting in the chorus.

Bassist Glen Evans plucks higher-end single notes, Von Slack rolls through some picking, and a solid snap from drummer Jonas Wahlstorm creates the perfect bed on the last (and best for me) tune, “Note To Self.” It’s a plaintive wail of a ballad, and I even forgive Waves having to dip into the usual trope of Fox screaming and ratcheting the song to warp speed.

Race Against Time is solid stuff from a band of talented Sacramento-based musicians who know well how to “rouse a deaf world.”