Western Sand - S/T

(CD EP Review)

***1/2

A great start for Western Sand!

On first listening to this EP, I was drawn back to the late 80’s / early 90’s, when there was a huge revival of rock music, showcasing some of the classic bands such as Metallica, Guns n’ Roses, Motley Crew to name but a few. At that time there was an abundance of new bands jumping on the band wagon. Western Sand would have fallen nicely into this time and place. The four tracks on this EP are without a doubt, nicely constructed and beautifully produced, but for me there is no particular stand out track.

The duel guitars of Tyler Hains and Jimmy Bradshaw are very tight, and at times do shine through in quality, however, the overall sound did tend to wash over me a bit. 'A place I call Home' has some familiar Metallica type riffs, which does lift it out as the strongest track. The gentler 'Broken Bones' on the other hand, has a real Lynyrd Skynyrd vibe to it, but as they hale them as one of their influences, I guess that is no surprise? All in all a nice EP to have on in the background when driving to and from work, but for me not an all out head banging delight.

Review by Helen Westby

Western Sand will be supporting Black star Riders on their November / December 'All hell breaks Loose' tour, so catch them on the road.