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Wester got in touch with us and asked us to review some of their stuff on Mp3, which I guess is a little easier than sending us a CD. So here goes . . .
Wester seemed at first look to be kinda hardcore going by the x's, and this seems to hold true in the music. They throw in some great Beecher-style screaming vocals, particularly in "Broken Glass", which keeps it quite hardcore. The main vocals don't live up to early promise, especially when he tries to push the vocal limits a bit.
The first song I listened to, "Blackout", starts off like an "Art of Drowning" era AFI number or maybe a slightly heavier Alkaline Trio. This one's definately the more punk of the three songs whereas the other two are more HC. Vocals aren't great and there's no screaming on this one to make up for it but it's okay and if it was a little more polished it would make a great album track. It's got a nice Matrix sample at the end of it too (not sure how legal that is). I listen to this one a lot.
Next up is "Broken Glass", starting with another sample, this time from The Usual Suspects (what is it with HC bands sampling films and stuff in their songs?). The guitar slows down a bit for this song, sounding a bit like earlier Mahumodo stuff. As I said above, the screaming is great.
The final track, "Ghost Like Glow" keeps the hardcore sound and screaming, with a similar slow pace to start off with and then it speeds up in the verses. Again the vocals suck a bit but it's nice and heavy and the lyrics are good, quite dark and brooding.
All in all, these aren't bad tracks and I think they're probably great live. The quality of the Mp3s aren't brilliant, I guess they might have done them either on an 8-track or a small studio, but if they were re-recorded and refined a bit more they'd make a good CD. Wester definately deserve to be counted among the many great HC bands around in the UK at the moment.
Jamie
I agree with everything Jamie has said. But I thought there was too much screaming. Apart from the that, the man is spot on and I love him.
And it's not because I'm trying to get him in the sack.
Tom
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