Stephen The power trio of WORK OF ART, ECLIPSE, and TALISMAN continues with a very strong follow-up, 'Rise Up'. Still revolving around classic melodic rock style, the gritty monstrous vocal of Jeff Scott Soto teaming up with the delicate AOR sound of Robert Sall and the balance line of hard rock and heavy metal Erik Martensson been standing on is obvious the shining point this band offered.

'Walk Away' and 'Learn To Live Again' are two superb and perfectly crafted melodic gems and a flawless pick to start the album. The title track is still super solid but 'Love Heals' that supposed to be the best ballad here probably only worth an 8/10 and weaker than the tenth track, 'Still Believe In Us'. 'What You Want', 'The Moment', and 'Bad Boy' are another perfectly delivered fast-paced tunes and while 'On The Run' and 'Broken Wings' might be a little patchy, they manage to close the album with another two brilliant tracks, 'Shot' and 'Still Unbroken'.

Production and musicianship is no doubt deserved the 10/10, and I know I'll be spinning this many many times, and although the debut is slightly better, W.E.T is still on top of their game and I'm not surprised to see this top off many melodic rock fans end-year-list.

96%

Stephen The life after Journey shown Jeff Scott Soto continues his solo project and decided to take on Frontiers' challenge of creating the best AOR album of the year 2009. Collaborating with Eclipse's main man, Erik Martensson and Work of Art's Robert Sall, the result is simply stunning and I can say the objective is perfectly achieved. Comprised from the first letter of their band, W.E.T's music ran through the big veins of heavy metal, melodic hard rock, and AOR, fulfilled the hunger of melodic fans for huge voice, swelling rhythm, and heavenly chorus.

It's impossible to even find a single weak song inside, everything were crafted carefully by Martensson/Sall. The first three tracks are instant favorites, "Invincible" has a massive chorus, "One Love" and "Brother In Arms" have a wonderful swaggering verse and soaring chorus. "Comes Down Like Rain" and "One Day At A Time" are hauntingly beautiful. "Runnin' From The Heartache" is a blazing mid-tempo that's sounded like a Danger Danger's lost track from their debut. In my opinion, this is the best track of the album. The Journey-influenced power ballad, "If I Fall", is another contender to be the song of the year.

The production level is amazing, the songs collection is marvelous, and the Swedish power trio also delivered an intense performance. This is probably the most ambitious project of Frontiers and they did a magnificent job with W.E.T. For fans of Work of Art, Eclipse, and Talisman, this is your ace idols on top of their game, and for those who are lookin' for a phenomenal emotion-pouring AOR/melodic rock record, W.E.T is like a dream come true. Five stars it is, 'nuff said !