Fireflight’s third album “For Those Who Wait” was released on Feb. 9, 2010. I had never actually heard of the band before and picked their album from the iTunes store looking for something a little different. Based on the samplings of their songs it seemed like their music would be something I would like; they fit in with Flyleaf and Evanescence—energizing rock music and strong female lead vocals.
Fireflight is a notably Christian band whose beliefs that are strongly displayed in their lyrics. During the making of “For Those Who Wait,” lead singer Dawn Michele’s brother was diagnosed with brain cancer. On the band’s website Michele spoke of how that event in her life influenced some of the songs, like “What I’ve Overcome.” This song is about how your struggles form you and bring you closer to God.
The music and vocals on “For Those Who Wait” are especially strong with the songs “For Those Who Wait,” “Name,” and “Recovery Begins.” These songs stand out with emotional, poetic lyrics and instrumental variety.
Unfortunately, despite the album’s strong title track and the other standouts, the other seven songs on the album are mashed together, with similar guitar rifts, drum beats, and vocals. It’s not an album you’re going to want to listen to over and over again. Most of the songs are hard to distinguish from one another. Michele has vocal talent, just not much range, and the consequence is that the songs sound extremely similar. Wthe exception of the songs noted above, the lyrics also aren’t very memorable.
In short, while the songs on “For Those Who Wait” aren’t necessarily bad, they just don’t stand out.