Highway Sentinels – The Waiting Fire

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HIGHWAY SENTINELS are a fairly new hard rock quintet on the scene, having only formed in 2021 during the Coronavirus pandemic. This year, they released two promotional singles “I’m A Loser” and “How To Be Real” for their upcoming debut album “The Waiting Fire”, which was revealed on July 22^nd, 2022, via Louder Than Loud Records. The first track on the release is “I’m A Loser”, which begins with a fuzzy guitar riff, before the song leaps in with David Reece’s impressive vocals. The chorus is seriously catchy too! This is a great start to the album, that’s for sure. “Face In The Crowd” is next, which is similar to the last in terms of riff style. However, this song lacks a bit of personality to be honest. “Afterlife” is slightly different, with a technical guitar riff taking the lead.

HIGHWAY SENTINELS have clearly got inspiration from bands like ALTER BRIDGE and IRON MAIDEN for this song. David Reece’s vocals even sound like BRUCE DICKINSON throughout. “Love And Hate” has a thundering riff from the get-go. However, this is probably the best part of this track, as the rest is just forgettable. “Victim Of The Night” is up next, which contains a riff at the beginning seemingly inspired by bands such as MOTLEY CRUE. “Tortured Soul” features an interesting introduction, which helps to keep me intrigued. As the song evolves, I am met with an infectious riff before the song quickly progresses. It is definitely a unique sound, that’s for sure. “We Won’t Be Forgotten” contains another highly technical rock riff, but unfortunately it doesn’t have much else to it. “All Comes Crashing Down” is another track of nothingness, sadly. As the song goes on, it is clear that David Reece’s vocals sound pretty identical to M. SHADOWS of AVENGED SEVENFOLD.

“I Don’t Care Anymore” features another infectious riff at the start of the song, however just like the rest, it quickly becomes mundane. “Not Too Late” and “How To Be Real” are in a similar vein to the latter, unfortunately. Saying this, final track “Hell In A Handbasket” is the polar opposite. It contains an instantly catchy riff which is sure to get stuck in your head rather quickly. Overall, “The Waiting Fire” by HIGHWAY SENTINELS was a bit of a disappointment. Even though there is no denying their high level of musical ability, the majority of the songs on this release were just mundane and had nothing of value. It is evidently clear that this is their first proper body of work and I just hope they will take on board the criticism and improve in the future.

Songwriting: 3
Musicianship: 8
Memorability: 1
Production: 7