Waste a Saint’s new album starts with an amplifier hum.
The sound of a humming amp is a prelude to a rock show.
Waste a Saint delivers one.
The new album, "Ravenous," rolls out melodic stoner rock lifted by hooks, practiced musicianship, and a highly present vocal that fills hearts. The sound recalls Paranoid-era Sabbath, early Queens of the Stone Age, and the 90s band Spiders.
The amplifier buzz leads opening track “Schizofriendia” to buzz-crunched metal and builds to the chorus’s belted-out lyric: “Eyes in the mirror watching you closely / It’s becoming clearer—no need to be lonely.” The vocal renews the worn path of songs about isolation, about feeling crazy for talking to yourself like you’re someone else.
On “Sore Spot,” the passion flares in the verse with muted guitars and unmuted vocal—“I know you see me see you avoid me, trying to get away and pretend to not know / But I’ll stare into your eyes so you can look away / I’ll call your name until the end so you can hear.” Then the growling guitars gush through a three-chord chorus.
“Dryads” is my favorite. The production splits guitar parts into left and right channels, and a dissonant note keeps wrestling with the melody. I love the arrangement. The persistent bass expands while the drums swing. The chorus is tight: the guitars take deliberate, confident steps while Bogey Stefansdottir’s voice comes at you.
Waste a Saint plays with consistency, like an older band. "Ravenous," released March 2024, follows the 2022 debut, "Hypercarnivore," which was also released on All Good Clean Records.
