Frontiers Music has had a habit lately of bringing some of the strongest, most melodic music back into our lives, and, on paper, WAITING FOR MONDAY must have felt to the record company like "the perfect storm." Venezuelan born vocalist Rudy Cardenas was a season six finalist on American Idol, and guitarist/vocalist August Zadra has spent the last ten years working with Dennis DeYoung's (STYX) solo band. You add in guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Walter Ino (EAGLES OF DEATH METAL, SURVIVOR, BABYS) applying his particular talents, as well as producing the debut album, and it would certainly seem that Frontiers has truly found something exceptional. That statement is just simply not reality. WAITING FOR MONDAY, both the band and this record, are not the "perfect storm" I spoke of earlier. They are better than that.

"Until the Dawn," the album's opener, has a fairly gritty feel to it going in, with some nasty guitar licks coming from Zadra. The vocal on the tune is fantastic and shows the range possessed by Cardenas very well. The musicianship involved is amazing, with Joe Travers and Eric Baines holding down the bottom end as aptly as any working today.

Following up, we have "The End of a Dream," which opens with a very nice classically inspired guitar (complete with simulated vinyl pops...very nice) and morphs into a darker feeling tune that catches the attention almost immediately. The vocal on this one is amazing from the onset, with Cardenas once again showing his power throughout. Where this record seems to feel a bit different for me is in the lyrical content. It doesn't concentrate on the "feel good" promises of AOR past, instead offering a deeper, more personally driven theme; not only here, but in the other tracks on the record, as well.

A good example of this comes with the third cut, and the last I will concentrate on here. "Shattered Lives" is first and foremost an absolutely beautiful piece of music, initially presented to the band by Zadra. When Cardenas heard it, he added the lyric, fueled by the losses of Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington, amongst others. The result is a powerful song that tugs at the heart on multiple levels; and it should be appreciated not only by fans of the genre, but anyone who has the chance to hear it. Again, all the layers are in place here, with the contributions of the entire band being outstanding.

If there is anything wrong, other than possibly falling into the "AOR formulaic sound trap" on a couple of tracks, I can't find it. I absolutely love musicians of this caliber sharing their strengths and creating this kind of product. It is a must.