All This Time We Wait is the new single from Boston’s Pale Monsters; the track comes from the act’s new release, Are You Feeling Alive?. The band come forth with an indie/alternative sound with a hint of 1960s rock. The vocals on All This Time We Wait build off of the work of performers like Rivers Cuomo and John Rzeznik. The distorted guitar on this introductory track calls back to the halcyon days of performers like The Red Hot Valentines. The bass and drums go back and forth to create a robust backdrop upon which the vocals and guitars can shine. The band’s eponymous single refreshes the down and dirty rock of Mott the Hoople with the sophisticated sounds of the Talking Heads. It’s invigorating to hear an act refresh an earlier music style with their own unique take on things.
Everybody (Take What You Can Take) is a high-water mark on All This Time We Wait. The track has each element – the vocals, the emotive bass line, the splashy drums and sharp guitars – giving it their all to make a confident composition that will stick with listeners long after the single (and album) ceases to play.
I Don’t Really Wanna Care No More adds a Cars-like synth into the mix; the angular sound of Pale Monsters during this effort links together surf rock with the aural sneer of The Cult or Billy Idol. Gone concludes things on Are You Feeling Alive?, slowing things down, allowing listeners to tumble each lyric and note in their brains. The band uses this slower tempo well in that this composition closes things down while showcasing where Pale Monsters may go in the follow-up to this EP.
Top Tracks: Everybody (Take What You Can Take), I Don’t Really Wanna Care No More
Rating: 8.5/10
Pale Monsters – “All This Time We Wait” / 2018 Self Released / Pale Monsters