Seventh Wonder took the progressive metal universe by storm with their latest outing Mercy Falls. I connected with the band instantly, and that particularly brilliant release has been stuck in my stereo for what seems like an eternity. Obviously, a band that makes such a huge impact on you need to be studied furthermore, which meant that Waiting in the Wings made a giant leap on my to-buy list. Even though this isn’t anywhere near of the same quality as Mercy Falls, the compelling and spell-binding melodies that give their name are clearly audible. I know a lot of people, including Andreas Blomquist, will agree with me that there was one major factor that made this so much better than Become, that made this band gain some character and a bunch of quality. So, what happened? Tommy Karevik happened.

You can tell by the first couple of lines on Star of David that this has got something more to it. Karevik is absolutely brilliant through the whole record, and definitely lifts this a couple of notches in terms of melody and catchiness. For those of you unfamiliar with his exceptional voice, he sounds like a less guttural Jørn Lande, which fits this perfectly as he completely dominates the musical picture. The melodies spellbind your mind from the very first touch of the magical tones that are present here. However, this isn’t as complex and entertaining as Mercy Falls by far. It takes much longer to get into simply because of lesser quality in terms of songwriting. Although there is a lot of stuff that can be compared, the majority of this this doesn’t even reach up to the knees of untouchable tunes like Break the Silence or The Black Parade. There is some of this; especially the solos, that is pretty messy although it’s more or less executed cleanly. They seem to wander off in full speed without any directions which is frustrating and misleading. Don’t get me wrong when I say that the melodies are weaker too. They’re by all means good, yet they’re lacking the incredible spark and are a little more simplistic and geared towards being easier to get. What makes this suffer even more is the extremely flat production and sound that is overall the same as on Mercy Falls. There’s no thickness in any tone, and the slack bass-sound of Mr. Blomquist is lifeless. A shame really, as his playing is flawlessly performed, and definitely the highlight here aside from the vocals.

Well, negativities aside, this is really a good album with strong and powerful pieces that are not too complex or advanced in either shape nor form. Again Karevik lifts this to a whole different level, and I think that with a proper production this would’ve been up there along with Mercy Falls in terms of score. There are some real dandies here like the heavy and incredibly catchy Banish the Wicked and the power metal-like Not an Angel. Except from a few, this is an album containing a string of solid tracks from start to end. Some of the songs are not as memorable as others, while some really come out filled to the brink with quality and melodies that could’ve been taken straight out of their latest. What it all comes down to is, that this can be described as a lesser Mercy Falls, yet it’s still enjoyable enough for a dedicated progressive metal-fan that appreciates good musical performance, awesome vocals, and melodies even the deaf would nod along to. Lets hope they can put together a proper production team for an eventual upcoming record, and make it exceed both this and Mercy Falls. Definitely recommended for any fan of good progressive metal.