THE WEST POLE

This album was recommended to me by a nephew who was born in the late seventies and whose musical tastes are very different from mine. He also recomended to me two Katatonia albums. The three albums are good.

This is a Dutch band and their musical style sounds to me more closer to the Gothic Rock / Alternative Rock musical styles with some "dark" atmospheres. In fact, for me this album is very "atmospheric", and this is the main thing in this album, with "atmospheric" guitars and "atmospheric" keyboards. But most of all, it has very good female vocals by Silje Wergeland (plus two ohter female singers as guests in two tracks: Anne van den Hoogen and Marcela Bovio, this last singer is from Mexico). There are not really guitar or keyboard solos, and the music is most focused on the vocals and in the lyrics, and this is a very big difference between this band and the "old" Prog Rock bands on which the virtuosity of the musicians was the main focus. So, the musical instruments are more focused in creating an "atmospheric vehicle" for the vocals and lyrics, with good arrangements which are more in the background. The lead singer and the vocals arrangements are so good that one forgets the presence of the other musicians in some parts. The music for the most part reflect an apparent tranquility, but in some places there are a few distorted guitars and a few heavy moments.The recording and the mixing are very good, very "atmospheric" too. And I also like the cover design.

In conclusion: this is a good band and this is a good album , even if their musical style is not one of my favourites. I think that this band is more for the "New Generation" than for some of the "Old Prog Rock Listeners" like me.