October 10th, 2013 
Adrian Garza 
Artist: Sleepwave
Song: “Rock And Roll Is Dead And So Am I”
Album: TBA
Sure, Spencer Chamberlain frequently reassured his Twitter followers that his days as a full time musician were far from over back when Underoath were coming down to their last weeks as a band, but after a while, it felt like the teasing would be endless. Of course, this all changed as of this past Friday, October 4, when he released the single “Rock and Roll is Dead and So Am I” under the moniker of Sleepwave.
Long story short: On my first listen, it didn’t take long for me to fall in love with the track, but equally, it took just as much time for me to catch myself growing a little tired of it. But don’t let that deter you, “Rock and Roll…” is a strong sign that Sleepwave has promising material around the corner, especially if you’re a fan of dark and experimental takes on alternative rock.
When I first approached the single, I was part nervous and part unsure of what I was about to find. Seeing as how Chamberlain’s past vocal work has most certainly set the bar very high for all of his work to come, it is a change of pace to hear a cooling, crooning voice instead of the ferocious growls and whines that Underoath fans have grown accustomed to from the final years of the band’s existence.
One of my most favorite things to take into consideration when it comes to finding out about vocalists blazing trails of their own through going solo is to see just how their instrumental work itself shapes up in the final product. You see, there may be many pictures of Chamberlain getting himself on a hands-on level, but pictures can only tell so much. Unless if somebody is in possession of his early personal demos, we’ll never know just how much of his contributions made the final cut. But for now, we can hear Chamberlain’s instrumental prowess on Sleepwave, and to some extent, it’s pretty impressive. Almost like most of the work from Trent Reznor himself, there are a lot of influences that bleed into “Rock and Roll is Dead and So Am I”; there’s some heavy industrial elements, such as the tight guitar riffs and the synthesizer bends buried beneath the mix, the 90s flavored radio rock melodies blasted out on the tail end of the bridge, and even some darker, atmospheric moments in-between a lot of it.
As much as I personally want to disagree with it, people are going to continually compare Sleepwave to Underoath for at least a few years. Chamberlain’s even said it himself in a recent interview that he “won’t do Underoath Pt. II or continue the saga with another heavy metal band,” and that’s a really good thing. Books and movies all have their definitive endings, and when there are more forced out, they never stack up as well as the originals. Sleepwave has all of the makings to be so much more, and while there’s nothing that’s incredibly groundbreaking about “Rock and Roll is Dead and So Am I,” there’s a refreshing sense of nostalgia brought out that helps prove this project really deserves a place in today’s alternative music scene.
Reviewed by Adrian Garza (Follow on Twitter)
Download “Rock And Roll Is Dead And So Am I”
Sleepwave Tour Dates:
11/16 State Theater – St. Petersburg, FL
11/17 Masquerade – Purgatory Atlanta, GA
11/20 Santos Party House – New York, NY
11/21 North Star Bar – Philadelphia, PA
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I could see this project getting a lot of traction.