{"id":38633,"date":"2014-03-23T08:06:23","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T13:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=38633"},"modified":"2014-03-23T08:06:23","modified_gmt":"2014-03-23T13:06:23","slug":"w-e-t-one-live-in-stockholm-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/w-e-t-one-live-in-stockholm-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"W.E.T. | One Live \u2013 In Stockholm<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"W.E.T.Although they have only released two studio albums, melodic rock supergroup W.E.T. have released an impressive live album that needs to be in the collection of every rocker who likes big hooks, big melodies and big choruses.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, W.E.T. is the culmination of members from classic AOR acts Work of Art, Eclipse and Talisman. From Work of Art you\u2019ve got keyboardist Robert S\u00e4ll. From Eclipse you\u2019ve got guitarist extraordinaire Erik M\u00e5rtensson. And from Talisman you\u2019ve got one of the hardest working men in the business, vocalist Jeff Scott Soto, who has sung with everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Journey.<\/p>\n

This live release is a recording of their show on Jan. 17, 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden at the Debaser Club. This show was for their die-hard fans as a celebration of the release of their second album, the magnificent Rise Up<\/em>. It was a small intimate gathering by people well-versed with these artists. They also filmed a companion DVD but this review is based on only the CD.<\/p>\n

The show and record kicks off with the lead track to their new album. The song, \u201cWalk Away\u201d, begins with a nice piano\/keyboard intro with sounds of a cheering crowd who are clearly anticipating an evening of kick-ass rock and roll. About a minute and a half later the guitars kick in, followed by a second guitar, thumping drums and finally the versatile voice of Soto. Along with the excellent vocals and crunchy hard-driving rhythm of the guitars, there are outstanding backing vocals and a nice lead guitar solo. This is melodic hard rock at its finest and a perfect example of what this supergroup is all about. It\u2019s a great opening track for their new studio album and an excellent way to kick of their show.<\/p>\n

With 22 songs on offer, doing a track-by-track breakdown is pointless, especially given the band\u2019s pedigree. Basically, if you like this style of music, you\u2019re going to love this album. Even trying to identify album highlights proved futile when after listening to eight songs, eight songs were highlights. Two of the coolest songs though are \u201cLearn to Live Again\u201d and \u201cIf I Fall\u201d because they both feature incredible dueling vocals by JSS and Erik M\u00e5rtensson. <\/p>\n

The songs are great, but should you plop down your hard-earned money on this album? It is a live album after all and some people have a bias against live albums. The answer is an unequivocal, yes! First, live albums aren\u2019t necessarily a bad thing; after all, bands like KISS and Cheap Trick found great success with their Alive<\/em> and Live at Budokan<\/em> releases because they were finally able to capture the energy of their live shows on vinyl. And remember how Peter Frampton Came Alive. Just go listen to the studio version of \u201cI Want You To Want Me\u201d and you\u2019ll understand why live albums aren\u2019t necessarily bad things and this release is certainly one of the better ones.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a fan of Work of Art, Eclipse or Talisman but you don\u2019t yet have either of the two W.E.T. releases, then you definitely need this album. Even if you\u2019re not familiar with these bands but just love good melodic hard rock, you need to buy this album. On two disks, it has six songs from their debut album and nine songs from the new album so it\u2019s a great introduction to the band for the unenlightened. But even if you already own the W.E.T. albums you still owe it to yourself to pick this up. Not only will you get to hear slightly different versions of the songs, but you get to hear Soto banter with the audience and reveal things like, \u201cThat\u2019s where it all started, you know. Everybody says it started in 1985 with Yngwie Malmsteen. As far as I\u2019m concerned, it started with Talisman in 1990, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re here tonight.\u201d Additionally, there are several songs by the members\u2019 respective groups. There are two Talisman songs \u201cI’ll Be Waiting\u201d and \u201cMysterious\u201d, an Eclipse song, the awesome up-tempo \u201cBleed & Scream\u201d with Erik M\u00e5rtensson singing, and the Work of Art song \u201cThe Great Fall\u201d featuring a guest appearance by Work of Art\u2019s vocalist Lars S\u00e4fsund. And if that\u2019s not enough, there are two immaculately-produced bonus studio tracks, \u201cPoison (Numbing The Pain)\u201d and \u201cBigger Than Both Of Us\u201d.<\/p>\n

This album truly has something for everyone and is an absolute \u201cMust Buy.\u201d A word of warning though, like many live rock shows, the F-bomb is dropped many times so it\u2019s probably not a good soundtrack for soccer mom\u2019s cranking up in the minivan while driving their kids to preschool. <\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nJeff Scott Soto – Lead Vocals & Keyboards
\nErik M\u00e5rtensson – Rhythm & Lead Guitar, Backing & Lead Vocals
\nRobert S\u00e4ll – Keyboards, Guitar & Backing Vocals
\nMagnus Henriksson – Rhythm & Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
\nRobban B\u00e4ck – Drums
\nAndreas Passmark \u2013 Bass<\/p>\n

Track Listing:<\/p>\n

CD 1:
\nWalk Away
\nLearn To Live Again
\nInvincible
\nI’ll Be There
\nLove Heals
\nRise Up
\nBleed & Scream
\nBad Boy
\nStill Unbroken
\nBroken Wings
\nI’ll Be Waiting.<\/p>\n

CD 2:
\nIf I Fall
\nShot
\nComes Down Like Rain
\nThe Great Fall
\nWhat You Want
\nBrothers In Arms
\nMysterious
\nOne Love
\nPoison (Numbing The Pain) (Bonus Studio Track)
\nBigger Than Both Of Us (Bonus Studio Track).<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records <\/p>\n

Website(s):\thttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheBandWET\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Ron Higgins – Columnist — Although they have only released two studio albums, melodic rock supergroup W.E.T. have released an impressive live album that needs to be in the collection of every rocker who […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,2960,374,185,2847,8997,8856,8999,3755,8998],"class_list":{"0":"post-38633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-eclipse","10":"tag-frontiers-records","11":"tag-jeff-scott-soto","12":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","13":"tag-one-live-in-stockholm","14":"tag-rise-up","15":"tag-talisman","16":"tag-w-e-t","17":"tag-work-of-art"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}