YOU NEED TO KNOW YOURSELF

French band WEEND'O was formed back in 2008, initiated by vocalist Laetitia and guitarist Terence. They have one full album to their name so far, "You Need to Know Yourself", which was self released by the band in 2012. They have since issued an acoustic live DVD, "Fairytaleacoustic", again self released by the band in 2013. This review covers their debut album from 2012.

What we have here is a somewhat odd production as seen from a contents point of view. The album consist of 8 compositions, with a further three tracks consisting of radio edits. The unusual aspect here is that the CD opens with radio edits of two of the compositions, the extended original versions appearing towards the end, and then the third radio edit has been chosen as the concluding track of the CD. A curious choice for me, especially as the best of the radio edits, at least to my ears, is the final one.

Be that as it may be, musically we're dealing with a band I guess can be placed more or less within a similar context as bands such as The Gathering. We have compositions alternating between calmer passages and harder edged sequences, the former defined by delicate plucked guitar details and smooth keyboard details, the latter by harder edged and often beefy guitar riffs that are loud and dominant without ever coming across as rough or gritty. Music easy to listen to, where the powerful and controlled lead vocals of Laetitia is given the limelight all along. She has a finely controlled delivery, able to convey the softer details as well as the more emotionally laden and dramatic ones, without ever approaching the wild or untamed. At times she's verging on the operatic, which has been kind of fashionable ever since Nightwish became popular, and I guess Weend'o should have a fairly strong appeal to those who like that kind of music even if their chosen turf is rather different from a stylistic point of view.

Strong bass motifs and elegant drum details are other defining traits of this production, and the band even includes some touches of textured instrument details with half a foot inside post rock territories at times to good effect, as documented on Betrayal. Clever use of electronic details also flavor some of the compositions quite nicely, while some guitar details on the song Deadline at least to my mind brought forth associations to bands such as Iron Maiden, this association restricted to a limited few details I'll hastily add, as the composition overall is rather far removed from the sound of those metal pioneers.

The end result is an interesting debut album, and apart from a couple of songs that left me somewhat indifferent this is an easy to like and pleasant run through accessible progressive rock with distinct metal orientation, and a production that should have a strong general appeal to those who enjoy harder edged, elegant metal-flavored rock of the accessible kind.