Artist: West, John
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2006
Rating: 4/5
This one-of-a-kind American vocalist, who has sung with Danish melodic hard rockers Royal Hunt since 1999 and is known for working with prog rock legends Artension, followed up the 2001 album “Earth Maker” with its successor “Long Time… No SIng”, West’s fourth solo album in a row. As the title already tells you, this record has to offer something different, something fresh. It’s as if West wanted to say: “I haven’t sung my own way in ages!” The album is a departure from its predecessor “Earth Maker”, which was steeped in the spirit of melodic hard rock and so much closer to, say, Royal Hunt. “Long TIme… No Sing” has precious little in common with Royal Hunt, except that West has clearly managed to pour a very convincing European emotional reality and depth into it through the album’s melancholic sentiment. In other words, the “anti-sugar” element that Americans so often simply lack. Excellent! So this album has the most in common with John West himself, which means the guy has breathed completely free and managed to get out a record that bursts with fresh winds and, in terms of musical expression, convinces as an artist at the very core of who he is.
The material is varied, so let’s walk through the songs “step by step”. The opener is flat-out shocking, the complete opposite of the rocker templates you’d expect. It’s a dark track called Fade,… brrrrr, darkly atmospheric. The guitars are cranked up, led by a slightly dirty, contemporary-flavored tone, but everything serves the melody. Unbelievably, the atmosphere recalls what you find on, say, Bruce Dickinson albums from the chemical wedding era. Interestingly, the vocal is pushed back a bit so that it takes on a muffled sound, which lifts this gloomy opening track even higher! An atmospheric opener at a mid-tempo pace with a gradual build-up of highly vibrant mood! John West is a seasoned musician who has learned a ton over the course of his music career. And this new album definitely flirts with “soul” roots in the singing itself.
There’s no relentless “hard rock” chopping anywhere on the record; everything is subordinated to the overall feeling. So the keyboards sneak into the song structures with incredible balance, as a counterweight to the guitars, as they do so effectively in Set Me Free, for example. We’re talking feel here, surrendering to pure feel! The attributes I just mentioned go up a whole notch with Give Me A Sign. West on soul rails, a burst of Hammond, a “seventies feel” coming to life and gentle picking guitars, pulled slightly back in the production so that the instruments sit together in a gorgeous common harmony. A pure ambient bullseye! The most intense flirtation with “soul” and blues comes in Highway To Roppongi. Over My Head sounds especially contemporary, with a “funky” guitar but still keeping the “hard rock” recognizability and the superb added backing vocals, which in the background recall some real medicine-man Native American preaching. The closest thing to melodic “hard rock” is The One That Got Away, where the chorus is finally the focus of the song. Next up is Falling Down, a great blend of “pop” and hard riff attacks, and very close to it is Slipping Away, where the high-flying mood reigns again as a result of giving in to the feeling. The song is an atmospheric mid-tempo beauty with a melancholic chorus that sends goosebumps down your body! One of the album’s shocking detours comes with One More Lie, which already borders on a real “stoner riff”, and West takes us back into a world of total darkness. The vocal is obscure, the guitars voluminous, dirty, rasping, modern, and the chorus carries a whiff of undisguised Alice In Chains destruction. Shock! Right after it comes the punchy ballad Better Believe, which confirms West’s excellence as a composer. It’s the real atmospheric opposite of One More Lie, and the record sails back to its sunny side. The mood in the second half of this song builds up spontaneously and gradually, with added string arrangements taking it toward a new dimension, and it happens quite unexpectedly. The album closes with the gentle instrumental ballad Puerto Amor with a sophisticated interplay of classical piano and a gentle electric guitar melody.
This album is an absolute surprise. It’s graced with outstanding ambience, outstanding dynamics, outstanding variety, and West’s sophisticated “soul” approach, with which he literally sets the record on fire. On top of that, the album keeps complete melodicity at every turn while being soaked in high emotion, at every step. It’s a turn by West as a singer toward “soul” and it’s an interesting one. This is an album that, on first encounter, will first grab you with the instruments, especially because of the production the vocal only sinks into your ears a little later. An album made by following the elemental instinct, fresh, different and, what matters most, a one-of-a-kind Johm West album. Absolutely the most mature album of West’s solo career. One more thing. The album will also be interesting for Savatage fans, since Chris Caffery and Jeff Plate (Metal Church, ex-Savatage) play on it.
Lineup
John West – vocals, lead guitar, backing vocals
Kevin Hampton – rhythm guitar
Chris Caffery – rhythm guitar
Lonnie Park – keyboards, percussion, bass guitar
Jeff Plate – drums
Production
John West
Track list
1. Let Us Pray
2. Fade
3. Set Me Free
4. Give Me A Sign
5. Highway Roppongi
6. Over My Head
7. The One That Got Away
8. Falling Down
9. Slipping Away
10. One More Lie
11. Better Believe
12. Puerto Amor
Album length: 48:03
