With experienced, yet not that well-known members on board, Waiting For Monday has surprised me through this balanced mix of hard rock, AOR and a fair amount of slower songs and ballads.
Written by: DaveT
ARTIST: Waiting For Monday
ALBUM: Waiting For Monday
LABEL: Frontiers
SERIAL: FRCD 1015
YEAR: 2020
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: 
LINEUP: Rudy Cardenas – vocals * August Zadra – guitar, vocals * Walter Ino – guitar, keyboards, vocals * Eric Baines – bass * Joe Travers – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Until The Dawn * 02 End Of A Dream * 03 Shattered Lives * 04 Found You Now * 05 Right In Front Of You * 06 Must Have Been * 07 Pick Your Lies * 08 Inside Your Head * 09 Make It Better * 10 Love You Forever * 11 One More Round * 12 Found You Now [Acoustic Version Bonus Track]
RATING: 
WEBLINKS: FB Link
Background
Waiting For Monday are a brand new melodic rock band introduced to the Frontiers label by Jeff Scott Soto. Core members are three. Singer Rudy Cardenas was born in Venezuela and raised in Denver, CO, spent some time in NYC and currently lives in North Hollywood, CA. He was a member of pop-jazz vocal group M-pact. Rudy was also a contestant on Season 6 of American Idol (2007) and collaborated with Hungary’s Mr. Zsolt.
Guitarist and singer August Zadra is known as the Tommy Shaw of Dennis DeYoung‘s band. Keyboard/guitar player based in LA, Walter Ino is a touring member of The Babys and former lead guitar player for Eagles of Death Metal. He also had a stint with Survivor between 2011 and 2017.
The Songs
With experienced, yet not that well-known members on board, Waiting For Monday has surprised me through this balanced mix of hard rock, AOR and a fair amount of slower songs and ballads. Rudy Cardenas is clearly influenced by Steve Perry and I can also hear Danny Vaughn and Jimi Jamison overtones.
Zadra is a solid guitarist whom at times shreds without falling into the usual cliches while Ino adds his share of guitar playing, piano and occasionally good pomp keyboard layers.
‘Until The Dawn’ is the powerful hard rock opener with loud guitars, mighty vocals and an impeccable guitar solo, followed by the rather dark midtempo ‘End Of A Dream’ which starts with a brief Baroque acoustic guitar piece that recalls Bach’s Bourree in E minor, recorded in vinyl-quality to give it an aged vibe.
‘Shattered Lives’ is a poignant, semi-acoustic piece that deals with depression and suicide. Somber keys complete the picture adding even more sadness. ‘Found You Now’ is one of the few ballads that sparked my interest in the last years. The piano arpeggios and the vocal melody are great, while the guitar-vocals counterpoint even recalls Journey‘s ‘Faithfully’.
You might think AOR is missing on the album, but the pomp keys of the vital ‘Right In Front Of You’; the tender, relaxed and almost Westcoast ‘Must Have Been’; and the slightly modern-sounding ‘Pick Your Lies’ more than fulfill your melodic needs.
At this point, the rocking ‘Inside Your Head’ is a welcome shift in gear with hints of Foreigner. Back to back with the spicy ‘Make It Better’, with its pomp arrangements, outstanding chorus and dynamic pace, this is a great uptempo one-two. Another ballad arrives. This time, the bluesy ‘Love You Forever’ gets inspiration from Journey‘s immortal classic ‘Lights’, particularly that fat warm guitar tone. However, this song shines with its own light
We need another uptempo, and Waiting For Monday delivers with the groovy, funky and heavy ‘One More Round’ where Cardenas sings at the top of his register and he does not disappoint. The album finishes with the acoustic version of ‘Found You Now’, a fine but not essential bonus track.
In Summary
Some might question the weight of Journey‘s influence on Waiting For Monday, but with the strength of the songwriting, the variety of songs, the high performance of the players and the correct sound-production that fortunately did not affect the right amount of edge needed, who can complain about this album? Listen, enjoy and draw your own conclusions.
Video
Until The Dawn
Shattered Lives
belongs to GDMonline.info copyright.
Duplication elsewhere on the Internet is strictly prohibited
unless specific permission is granted.
Internal Link:
Edit User Profile
[Gdazegod] One to add to my streaming library. It’s amazing once you dig a bit deeper, how they’ve come together and what their influences are. Nice work Dave.
[Rkbluez] Got the CD on now sounds cool saw Zadra with DeYoung…great guitar player who handled all of the Tommy Shaw parts nicely…the singer has that kind of Perry sound but still his own identity…sounds like good album.