West of Corey is a three-piece band from Minnesota. According to their website, they consist of Janine on lead vocals, West on bass and Corey on guitar. On October 26th 2019, they released their 12-track debut album “Slammed”. What did we think of it? Let’s find out!
The album starts off with “No Resistance”, definitely a good choice in terms of track listing. The album flows nicely, it’s clear the band put a lot of time thinking about the listening experience for their audience. However as the album flows from one track to another, the mixes appear all different and each song has its own distinct style. Indeed, tracks such as “Misty Mound”, “Stranger in Love” and “Alligator Breath” have more of a demo feel. “Course of Things to Come” is notable in that it has a very big sound, a very nice touch indeed.
Corey shines throughout this release, his guitar tone on “No Resistance” is but one example. West does a fantastic job too, his playing is right in the pocket and holds the tracks on this album together. Janine holds her own pretty well, definitely taking a lot of influence from her inspirations. The release also features guest drummers Mike Stephan on tracks 2, 3, 7 and 10, Jeremy Horvath on tracks 1 and 4, Joel Battleson on tracks 6 and 11, Isaac Anderson on tracks 8 and 12, JT Bates on track 5 and Bruce Whitehead on track 9 – they certainly do very well to help craft the energy that makes this album stand out.
Overall, the album is worth a listen. There are a lot of great ideas here, the mix of some of the tracks does let it down a little bit.
At the time of this post, we must point out that this release is not available on major platforms. Instead, if you wish to listen to West of Corey’s debut album “Slammed” – you’ll have to visit their website. A very ambitious business model in the age of ever dying CD sales, but you can also buy tracks individually!
“Slammed” by West of Corey was released on October 26th 2019. You can listen to it by purchasing a CD from the band or buy tracks individually here. You can follow them on Facebook, Twitter and by visiting their official website.
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EDIT: The original post was updated to include the names of guest drummers and tracks they appeared on.
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