Beyond the wide cross over among musicians involved, technical death metal which is my main interest, and progressive metal I also love deeply, share many of the same musical characteristics: Eye-popping musicianship, unorthodox songwriting structures, sonic exploration eschewing any and all boundaries between realms, and a desire to push things into places not yet explored or not commonly conjoined in bold innovative ways that make for fresh sounds.
Newcomers WAIT (We Are In Transit) hit all those criteria while still retaining an immense heaviness to their music that death metal fans will enjoy outside of their frequently jazzy and syncopated obsessed style of adventurous prog metal. Whether it’s an abstract theory or not, it seems plausible to me that guitarist Charlie Eron who wrote the music for WAIT, presented earlier versions of his material to vocalist and guitarist Max Phelps and bassist Alex Weber of aggressive prog-metallers Exist knowing it’s in a similar wheelhouse to what they do already. Both of them ended up joining the project sometime later along with renowned drummer Anup Sastry linking up with them for the group's initial EP out in early July through The Artisan Era.
As a huge fan of Exist for many years, I was intrigued, and, the music we’re premiering below for their debut single “Wonder” is an impressive piece of music that thrills as few modern prog-metal acts do. Or, to be more specific, within my views on the modern prog metal world and not really enjoying most of the acts people like that too often take a repetition friendly standard songwriting approach paired with generic soft/harsh dynamics that is safe but dull. And, not really my idea of progressive music in any sense to be blunt.
Clocking in at just under nine minutes, “Wonder” is an expansive sonic landscape of progressive metal nodding to the darker present era, as well as exploring earlier era complex fusion inspired Spiral Architect and Cynic styled material, at the same time, "Wonder" is driven by a quirky Meshuggah influence akin to Exist that is not basic djent yet grooves like a motherfucker all the same. To get a bit more information from the group about “Wonder”, WAIT guitarist Charlie Eron told me that “The song “Wonder” is a caricature depicting a mind, enshrouded in self-doubt and uncertainty, attempting to grasp an indescribable idea. The mind then prevails… Or so it seems. “Wonder” is a roller coaster of feeling and emotion, drifting from frustration to melancholy, then finally to understanding and catharsis. This song features soloist Jon Epley on guitar.”
While this is not another version of Exist per se, enough positive similarities between the two forward-thinking progressive metal groups are on display within “Wonder” we’re premiering below that I can definitely see how Charlie Eron was able to get so many talented musicians on board for his project. Having heard the whole three-song effort early, WAIT – We Are In Transit out July 12th through The Artisan Era is definitely an exciting project worth checking out. I don’t have the active pre-order links right now, but, I’m sure if you follow the WAIT Facebook Page or The Artisan Era Facebook Page, those links will go live soon sometime after this premiere.
