WE- Tension and Release
(NunMusic)
WE- Tension and Release
(NunMusic)
From Aural Innovations #39 (May 2008)
Ok folks… prepare yourself. The new WE record has been unleashed and
it is a monster. It took the band some years and some new children after Smugglers
before Tension and Release could be born but here it is. WE have made a great
sounding record that mixes the great aspects of Smugglers with some of the ideas
the band used on the tracks on the split LP with Gas Giant thrown together with
a very intense, dark and heavy guitar sound. Don Don did a masterful job in
the mixing of this record. Killer sound. The CD starts off with Lotus Rising,
with a dark atmosphere, before the intense guitar riffing hits you. This gives
you a taste of the heavy, nasty guitars that will follow. Free Behind Bars is
an intense song! That’s Why (You’re So Fine) was the single released
in the summer in Norway, and despite the made for radio pop chorus it is a real
hard rocking number and Don lays down a killer guitar solo at the end! For Love
For Life has a very intense slide guitar and is a more spacey track like stuff
on Dinosauric. Popul Vuh will remind people of Smugglers, the title track of
the last album, but it is quite a different animal. This one is dark, psychedelic
and has some great keyboards from Tariq. Appreciation is an 8½ minute
journey with a killer (but too short) jam with Don and Tariq trading keyboard
and guitar licks back and forth. This is a heavy one! Hurdy Gurdy is the most
recent single and the only filler track. The track just doesn’t do anything.
Post Millennium Tension Blues, one they played live in December 2006 when they
opened for Motorhead, is a intense slide guitar track that just runs straight
out the gates. Killer guitar by Don. Thorns is a strange little 2½ minute
track with a garagy feel to it but intense in your face guitar. No End will
remind you of Last Stronghold of the Freaks from the Split LP with Gas Giant
or the Trip. It has that cool, stoned, spaced vibe… Freaks in the Streets
(continuing the saga…??) is a cool psychedelic rock track to end this.
Amazing CD. It takes some time to grow on you but it is a piece of art…
The double Digipack with a DVD is cool but if you are lucky enough try to find
the rare triple LP box made in only 500 copies for the Norwegian market. It
features the vinyl only track (Willin’ and Able, which is the most psychedelic
song on the whole record!) plus a LP size booklet with the lyrics and a large
6 album size poster of the band standing somewhere in India. Expensive but
amazing!
Check out the band web site at: http://www.werock.org
Check out the record label web site at: http://www.nunmusic.com
Reviewed by Scott Heller