For those of you don't know, W.E.T. is made up of Robert Sall from Work Of Art, Erik Martensson from Eclipse and Jeff Scott Soto from Talisman (& of course, more recently, Journey). Their record label, Frontiers, had the idea of combining the talent of the two songwriters together with one of the genre's best singers. Also, helping out in the songwriting department is Miqael Persson and Magnus Henriksson. Robban Back handles drumming duties.
Style wise this is a combination of the AOR of Work Of Art, the hard rock of Eclipse and the melodic rock of Talisman. JSS describes it as the "Journey album that could have been had I continued with them!". In fact, although this music has a few Journey-ism, it is harder edged than recent Journey.
Opening track, "Invincible", is a powerful opener that is a good combination of guitar riffs and melody. This transforms into the catchy Talisman meets Journey of "One Love". And talking of Talisman, "Brothers In Arms" may well be a tribute to JSS's Talisman late partner Marcel Jacob. By this stage it is time for a big power ballad in the form of "Comes Down Like Rain" which comes across as Whitesnake meets Journey. "Running From The Heartache" is a mid-tempo AOR style rocker that reminds me of early Winger.
The next track, "I'll Be There", and one of the later tracks, "My Everything", are like twin brothers with their uptempo melodic hard rock. Things get heavier for "Damage Is Done" and "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" which aren't as immediate as some of the other tracks on the album. It's great to hear a melodic rock band singing about something other than love and partying etc on the latter.
"One Day At A Time" is another big power ballad that incorporates elements of Whitesnake and Def Leppard into the W.E.T. sound. Then "Just Go" picks up the pace again like Talisman meets Fair Warning. On the final track, "If I Fall", JSS gets a chance to show the guys in Journey just what they are missing as the album closes with a track that could have been taken from a Journey Greatest Hits album.
I've been a fan of JSS ever since I first heard the opening bars of "Calling All Girls" from the Eyes S/T album. On this W.E.T. album he has been given the opportunity to shine on a great set of songs. This is near perfection in every department - songwriting, musicianship, vocals and production. My initial reaction was that things were too perfect and that the album lacked character, but as I've listened to it more and I've detected the craftsmanship that has gone into this & I really appreciate what a great album this is.
