W.E.T.

Supergroups can be double-edged swords. On one hand, they typically get a head start due to the established reputations of their members, the equivalent of drawing the "advance to Go" card in Monopoly. They also tend to have built-in fan bases and garner higher media interest than other bands in their infancies. On the other hand, expectations are usually high — often, unreasonably so — and pairings of alphas rarely tend to last, as evidenced by the numerous such acts who never made it to record #3 (think CHICKENFOOT, DAMN YANKEES, BAD ENGLISH, VELVET REVOLVER, SLASH'S SNAKEPIT, SONS OF APOLLO, and even THE TRAVELING WILBURYS).

Every so often, however, a supergroup sticks, and a few months after Hughes, Bonamassa, Sherinian and Bonham released the fifth BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION album comes effort number five from another multinational hard rock collective, W.E.T. Originally, the group, whose moniker is an acronym of the names of the bands (WORK OF ART, ECLIPSE and TALISMAN) in which its principals cut their teeth, was marketed as a trio, but their new album "Apex" sees W.E.T. officially become a sextet that's now composed of two members from each of its namesake acts. It might seem like a risky move to increase the number of cooks in the kitchen, but perhaps those new additions keep W.E.T. from sounding as if they're treading water on "Apex". Instead, the album, its front half especially, shows that the band's creative well still runs deep.

Indeed, "Apex" is an incredibly front-loaded album, which might well be a response to the short attention spans of the modern streaming era. Then again, it could just be common sense to lead with your best foot forward, and it's hard to do better out of the box than W.E.T. does here. The fun begins with "Believer", which features a chugging riff, silky vocals, a "Hysteria"-worthy chorus featuring gigantic harmonies and a sneering, shreddy solo that sounds like Neal Schon on steroids. (In other words, game on.)

Things then go from great to greater on video single "This House Is On Fire", a melodic rock tour de force that might well be the group's catchiest song yet. Recalling the urgency and exuberance of recent ECLIPSE singles "Got It!" and "All I Want", the track sees that band's singer/guitarist Erik Mårtensson (who produced, mixed and mastered "Apex") trade verse vocals with primary front man Jeff Scott Soto while building to a chorus that's, as Devin Townsend might say, as catchy as a really catchy thing. If that's too vague of a description, the track sounds like what DEF LEPPARD should have released after "Adrenalize", and, "Promises" aside, what many fans have been longing to hear from them ever since.

Mårtensson and Soto again tag-team vocal duties on the more midtempo "What Are We Fighting For", another master class in timeless rock songcraft that manages to sound fresh yet instantly familiar. As with its two predecessors, the track features a knockout guitar solo, but unlike "Believer" (whose solo is credited to Robert Säll) and "This House Is On Fire" (whose dazzling tapping is performed by Mårtensson),the spotlight shines here on the always excellent Magnus Henriksson, Mårtensson's longtime wingman in ECLIPSE.

Henriksson also stars on the lengthy outro solo to "Where Are The Heroes Now", a darker and grittier track (relatively speaking; it still sparkles sonically) with a driving, more deliberate pace. Here once again, Soto and Mårtensson trade vocals — not quite to the same extent that Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades did so effectively in DAMN YANKEES, but close — in a track Martensson described in a press release as "a longing for light and guidance amidst the darkness." The final 90 seconds of the song fall (or, more accurately, rise) squarely on the shoulders of Henriksson, whose tasteful and economical playing matches the song's deliberate, focused pace.

It wouldn't be an AOR album without a big, inspirational ballad about love conquering all, and on "Apex", that honor falls to, you guessed it, "Love Conquers All". Featuring soaring vocals by Soto and a classy, harmonized guitar solo, it doesn't necessarily forge new ground, but there's no shame in a band playing to its strengths.

The album's second half, meanwhile, feels a bit more experimental. "Breaking Up" features a chuggy, almost proggy guitar riff and a shreddy, sweeping mad scientist solo that would make Brad Gillis proud, while the bouncy "Nowhere To Run", which also features some blazing fretboard acrobatics, has more space in the verses than you'd expect, but then flips the switch with a knockout chorus.

"Pay Dirt" might be the most pedestrian track of the lot here, as its bluesy bar rock doesn't connect as strongly as its siblings, but it's still fun to hear Soto channel the showmanship he's honed from performing TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA's brand of rock theater. It's followed by "Pleasure & Pain", a dark and moody ballad (think WHITESNAKE's "Is This Love") with another cinematic solo, and "Stay Alive", which hits the mid-paced melodic rock sweet spot with sparsely orchestrated verses that segue into a top-of-the-mountain chorus.

As with previous W.E.T. records that end on high notes (see "If I Fall", "Still Unbroken" and "One Final Kiss"),"Apex" has one last trick up its sleeve in album closer "Day By Day". Initially recalling the moodiness of NORDIC UNION (Mårtensson's other supergroup project with PRETTY MAIDS vocalist Ronnie Atkins),the song's sterling craftsmanship deftly builds to yet another irresistible chorus.

It's criminal that W.E.T. has played just eight live gigs to date and none since 2019, for as with its predecessors, the material on "Apex" begs to be brought to the stage. Until then, fans of top-shelf melodic rock will simply have to settle for another super record from a truly super group.