Westing - Future (2023, Hi-Res)

Artist: Westing
Title Of Album: Future
Year Of Release: 2023
Label (Catalog#) : RidingEasy Records
Country:: USA
Genre: Classic Rock, Hard Rock
Quality: FLAC (*tracks)
Bitrate: 24bit / 96kHz
Time: 40:00
Full Size: 902Mb(+3%)

Late in 2021, Slow Season announced they’d become Westing, and that Ben McLeod (also of Nashville’s All Them Witches) was now in the four-piece on lead guitar alongside guitarist, vocalist and keyboardist Daniel Story Rice, bassist Hayden Doyel and drummer/recording engineer Cody Tarbell.
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I always wondered what happened to Psych Stoner Rockers Slow Season and now we have the answer with Westing. Slow Season have evolved into Westing and offer their debut release FUTURE. The band have retained their Classic Rock and perhaps Led Zepp inspired sound for FUTURE but it also sees Westing venture into heavier areas of Psych Rock and Boogie Rock with a COSMIC attitude replacing the more Blues Rock aspect of Slow Season.

This is a refreshing change of pace for Westing and they show that within the excellent two opening songs of Back In The Twenties and Nothing New. Both songs have a Seventies Classic Hard Rock attitude that allows Westing to play a more stylish “Stoner” based drive that easily moves into the Cosmic Rock arena. The guitar solos are plentiful within Nothing New but the restrained Psych Stoner Rock drive is quite pleasing to hear.

You can detect a dark FUZZ ROCK attitude within Nothing New, Lost Riders Intro and Lost Riders (which is the standout track on the album). Westing are quite adept at playing a soulful style of music that has a mighty confident swagger to it especially when the heavier COSMIC elements appear. The music may not be HEAVY as such but Westing do play their own definitive style of Hard Rock with highly polished production values.

FUTURE remains deeply committed to its 1970’s Hard Rock cause but Westing injects modern day Stoner based techniques and sounds on great tracks such as Big Trouble, Artemisa Coming Down, Stanley Wu and Coming Back To Me.

Westing aren’t shy about using more SONIC based projections for certain parts of the record that allows FUTURE to become more challenging to listen to at times. Though, the overall creative strengths of this album is when the two worlds of OLD & NEW creative themes meet together for a more fuller and richer sound which gives the album some of its more majestic and powerful moments.

Slow Season were famed for their RIFF-BASED approach and they don’t disappoint here with an even more “RIFF-CENTRIC” style being used for more daring grooves that I didn’t think I would expect to hear on a Slow Season record. However, this is a new chapter for the band and with Westing, the band has evolved into a more daring and exciting band.

FUTURE is a sublime release for all fans of the Classic Hard Rock and Stoner Rock scenes. by Steve Howe.

Tracks:
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01. Back In The Twenties (03:52)
02. Nothing New (06:08)
03. Lost Riders Intro (02:12)
04. Lost Riders (05:17)
05. Big Trouble (In The City Of Love) (03:42)
06. Artemisia Coming Down (06:01)
07. Silent Shout (03:31)
08. Stanley Wu (04:33)
09. Coming Back To Me (04:43)

Personnel:
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Bass – Hayden Doyel
Drums – Cody Tarbell
Lead Guitar – Ben McLeod
Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards – Daniel Rice

All thanks to original releaser