With a name like Making Waves, this rock trio makes it clear they want to make a splash in the local music scene and have the ripple effect carry them on to larger success. But their debut EP, Never Come Out Alive, is an unimpressive sinking ship. There are a couple positives, with great melodies in the chorus of Slippery Hands and the verses of Freeze. But more often than not, vocalist Keith Dueck is drowned underneath the mix of grungy guitar riffs and chunky bass lines. When the vocals do break the surface, they sound out of place with the rest of the production. Exploding Color sounds like an incomplete, growling and incoherent mess of ideas, while the dissonant chords ofGeronimo are enough to make anyone seasick. Hopefully the band – who plays at The Royal Albert this Friday, Mar. 6 – learns to navigate the waters better in time for its next release.