Released by: Frontiers Records
Release Date: March 23rd, 2018
Genre: Melodic Hard Rock
Links: https://www.facebook.com/wetofficialpage/
Line Up:
Erik Mårtensson: Guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals
Jeff Scott Soto: Vocals
Robert Säll: Keyboards
Magnus Henriksson: Guitar
Robban Bäck: Drums
Additional guitar solo on “Urgent”: Thomas Larsson
Tracklist:
1. Watch The Fire
2. Burn
3. Kings On Thunder Road
4. Elegantly Wasted
5. Urgent
6. Dangerous
7. Calling Out Your Name
8. Heart Is On The Line
9. I Don’t Wanna Play That Game
10. The Burning Pain Of Love
11. The Neverending Retraceable Dream
W.E.T., an acronym for Work of Art, Eclipse, and Talisman is one of those once in a lifetime good ideas a record label had of putting together a band. Yeah, I know, you purists are all like, “Bands shouldn’t be put together. They should start off in the garage and slog their way through the club scene before ever getting a record contract.” Whatever, this isn’t the 70’s. We live in a day and age where labels aren’t even necessary. Someone with enough talent, money, and tech-savvy can record and release their own music thus cutting out all of the middlemen involved. Sure, you don’t see Platinum selling artists like you did back in the day, but is that a bad thing? I agree fervently that musicians are the ones that should be making the money off of their art and not some suit who lucked into a position to pick and choose what bands get pushed and what gets pushed aside. Anyway, I’m getting off topic and I want to get to W.E.T.’s new album Earthrage.
Coming out of the gate with their third album Earthrage, W.E.T. simply get better and better with each release. The first two (s/t and Rise Up) were excellent albums, but both lead up to the superior album that is Earthrage. There is an added vitality to this one as opposed to the first two, it’s catchier and more alive, and feels more like a full band as opposed to a “project.” With Eclipse and Jeff Scott Soto both coming off of a banner year with stellar releases and Erik Mårtensson with his latest Ammunition, it’s as if they had a bit more to quality music inside of them, and saved it for 2018. The opening track “Watch the Fire” is the perfect mix of melodic hard rock: instantly memorable, it draws the listener in willingly, great sing-along group stuff, tasty riffs, pretty much everything that makes Work of Art, Eclipse, and Talisman the very best at the melodic hard rock game. Furthering the greatness of this album are songs like “Urgent,” “Calling Out Your Name” and the beautiful “Heart is On The Line.”
W.E.T.’s Earthrage is a highly anticipated album for the fans of the band and should be a top desire by fans of melodic hard rock. With the line-up of this band, it would be a travesty to be anything short of amazing, and there is nothing that falls short about Earthrage. It is easily their best album to date and shows them at the top of their game. If you don’t agree with that, you’re simply wrong. Or maybe you don’t like great music, in which case you’re still wrong. I don’t see how fans of any of these bands or this genre can’t love this album. Yes, I know, when it comes to JSS I tend to be somewhat biased, but even without his influence on it, it is still an incredible album.
Written by: Chris Martin
Ratings: 10/10
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