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It’s not easy to combine a variety of styles and genres into one melting pot and come out sounding like a band rather than just an aimless scattergun of ideas. Without Waves claim their raison d’être is ‘evolution through experimentation’, and listening to Lunar, with its blast of noise rock, nu metal, jazz time signatures, post-punk and tech-death, you might wonder if they’re more interested in standing out from the crowd than making memorable songs. After a confusingly incoherent opening, it’s not until Us Against locks into a woozy guitar part and a brain-hugging alt-rock chorus that they start sticking to something they excel at. From here on, Lunar is fairly frustrating, with the glorious slashing bounce of E.D.M.S. sitting alongside the plodding Fractals. Without Waves should realise that any future releases could do with either being streamlined or they’re going to have to make every flight of fancy count.
