First things first: Sleepwave are ex-Underoath frontman Spencer Chamberlain’s new project. You will not read one review that doesn’t reference Chamberlain’s previous band, because this is a key piece of information. But at the same time, Sleepwave do deserve to be known on their own terms, because ‘Broken Compass’ is a bloody good album (and has barely anything in common with Underoath).
It’s been a year since Underoath split up, and now Spencer Chamberlain is back as part of a duo with co-collaborator Stephen Bowman. Chamberlain obviously takes care of the vocals, but the two members are both responsible for guitar, bass, keyboards and programming. It’s a lot to take on, but they’ve nailed it.
The album’s opener ‘Paper Planes’ lulls you into a false sense of security with its melodic intro, before launching into a track that actually wouldn’t be hugely out of place on Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘Sempiternal’ (which is fitting, as they’re sharing a stage with BMTH at Wembley in December).
Sleepwave merge grungy guitars and vocals with electronic elements, and it all works to give them a great sound. The other band that springs to mind when listening to some parts of ‘Broken Compass’ is Linkin Park in their early ‘Hybrid Theory’ days (see the chorus in ‘Rock And Roll Is Dead and So Am I’ in particular).
Recent singles ‘The Wolf’ and ‘Through The Looking Glass’ are both absolute bangers, while both being fairly different. ‘The Wolf’ is a grungy rock track which is raw, energetic and fairly heavy, whereas ‘Through The Looking Glass’ is more chilled out and electronic. Both tracks show different sides to Sleepwave, and the album is an extension of both sides.
There is no ignoring the fact that this is the new project of a previous member of Underoath, but you should go into this album with an open mind. This is not just Underoath Pt. 2, but something much more than that. ‘Broken Compass’ is great in its own right, and Sleepwave have the potential to be important to a lot of people.
LAIS MW