Track Review: “Wasted Moments” by Theorist

Steadily growing from an ember to a bright flame, over the past seven years Southampton Progressive Metalcore quartet Theorist have been busy making a name for themselves. The fruits of their labour started coming to fruition in 2023 which saw them unveil a debut EP in “Perception” which features their biggest single “Paralysed“. A track which has surpassed 23k of combined streams across YouTube and Spotify, it paved the way for a run in last years Metal 2 The Masses for a chance to play the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival which was only halted by by winners Stone Soup in the final. While they may not have reached the summer festival stage, their journey opened the door to a performance at Oxfords finest Metal weekender Rabidfest that year, which proves that for Keller Maxwell, Luke Young, Luke Thomas and Andy Rose at least, every dark cloud has a silver lining.

Conjoined to a music video directed and filmed by Harvey Mann “Wasted Moments” is a track soaked in melancholia and dripping with the nostalgia of 2003 era American Metalcore as well as more contemporary offerings from Architects, Polaris and Erra. That helps give it an instant appeal in familiarity, allowing the ear-worm main riff and tight rhythmic groove time to get under your skin and inside your head as Theorist hold their burning flame aloft. Combining fierce harsh unclean vocals in the verse and aching clean vocals in the chorus in masterful fashion while refusing to give into the temptation to slow down the mid-tempo groove to allow a little more space to breathe shows the craft that has gone into creating a tune that reflects on the past. Melodic Death Metal style leads add to the burning sentiment of the lyrical narrative, the warmth of the solo the caress of dawns first light and the tapping sections nothing short of being utterly glorious. After a few listens you may well find yourself humming the soul stirring tune, the aching synths of the final moments adding a haunting touch to round it off nicely. Cleverly constructed in almost a subtle way with gentle tempo shifts and moments of nuance so you get a nice rise and fall make this one something to savor [8/10]