Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: W.E.T.
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2018
Running time: 43:50
Rating: 4/5
W.E.T. is the musical story of three exceptional musicians. The band’s name is an acronym drawn either from their main bands (wok Of Art »W«, Eclipse »E«) or from bands in which the musicians behind the W.E.T. project were once active (Talisman »T«).
So. Five years have passed since the predecessor »Rise Up,« and here comes its follow-up, »Earthrage«. Since two thirds of this project are Erik Martensson and Robert Sall, both Swedes, the new W.E.T. album »Earthrage« is naturally another outstanding piece of »AOR and melodic rock revitalism«, kneaded from the »recipe« of a refined school of flawless sound and songwriting perfectionism, the kind the Scandinavian corner of Europe has been serving up for years. The cherry on top is the exceptional voice of American Jeff Scott Soto, who somehow, amazingly, found time for the new W.E.T. album too. He’s constantly tangled up in a whole constellation of other projects (solo album, Sons Of Apollo, the S.O.T.O. project,…) Then again, Sall and Martensson are no »saints« either, and their schedules are just as insanely packed. If nothing else, the studios where they record new albums for their clients are booked solid all the time.
Considering how hard these guys must find it to scrape together any decent amount of creative time, »Earthrage« is an exceptionally high-quality effort that stands proudly next to its brilliant predecessor »Rise Up«. It has no artistic stumbles and delivers top-notch consistency from the first second to the last. Production-wise, its nature is closer to the sound of the Eclipse albums, although W.E.T. are noticeably more AOR-flavored than Eclipse, which brings the look of »Earthrage« closer to the work of Work Of Art.
This isn’t just routine and experience. Sure, they play a huge role, but what decides everything is talent, personified by this remarkable crew standing behind the W.E.T. name. Neither in songwriting nor in performance does »Earthrage« let up for a second, hitting the listener with exceptionally creative perfection from start to finish! The crew has once again packed the legacy of eighties AOR into their revitalism with great skill, in tune with the fashionable production tricks of modern times. So the guitars grab hard and dominate the sound, and Soto shines with his dominant, strictly distinctive, signature and highly infectious, slightly raspy yet incredibly piercing voice. His vocals are generously harmonized with vocal lines in the choruses, where every track hits its emotional peak and grabs the listener by the ears in an instant (an old trick, then). Opener Watch The Fire is right away an example of a very deft borrowing from eighties AOR pioneering. It’s something Robert Sall handles with feather-light ease, and with the refined alertness that both he and Martensson possess, it was no trouble to create a dozen new, atmospherically bombastic smashers that hit one after another on the new W.E.T. album (the choruses of Urgent and Calling Out Your Name are especially seductive). Pick your favorites yourself, but the album is tailor-made for everyone who listens to a wide range of Scandinavian hard rock bands, and above all for those attached to the eighties AOR/west coast principle, which today is perfectly reflected in the Scandinavian approach to the genre.
»Earthrage« is already being hailed, right out of the gate, as one of the best old-school AOR revival albums to come out this year. It’s a fresh gem of melodic rock revitalism that keeps up the exceptional quality set by its predecessors »W.E.T.« (2009) and »Rise Up« (2013). Soto, Martensson and Sall are clearly still a carefully oiled creative machine that refuses to let up!
Lineup
Jeff Scott Soto – vocals
Erik Mårtensson – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, vocals
Robert Säll – keyboards, guitar
Robban Bäck – drums
Magnus Henriksson – guitar, guitar solos
Production
Erik Mårtensson & Robert Sä
Tracklist
01. Watch The Fire
02. Burn
03. Kings On Thunder Road
04. Elegantly Wasted
05. Urgent
06. Dangerous
07. Calling Out Your Name
08. Heart Is On The Line
09. I Don’t Wanna Play That Game
10. The Burning Pain Of Love
11. The Never-Ending Retraceable Dream
