The extremely talented front man of the Dubai based alternative rock/metal band Jay Wud have given us a rare and awesome opportunity to review his band’s upcoming album Transitions which drops on June 30th.
I have been a fan of this band since I heard about them a little under a year ago. Transitions is the band’s 3rd studio album and it is unlike anything they have done before. The album was recorded in the US and they were joined by non-other than the incomparable Mr. Joe Rickard of Inflames on drums. The album has 10 tracks including 2 instrumentals and I have to say that I was BLOWN AWAY by the diversity in composition, sound, and overall feel of the album. It is simply a masterpiece.
I have been listening to nothing else for the past 4 days, the first time I heard it by the time I reached track 8 all I could think of was “DAMN IT why does it have to end?”I want to share some anecdotes from my experience listening to that album, without revealing too much and maintaining the mystery and the hype.
On one of the 2 instrumental songs, ‘Track 3’of the album I remember listening to it while driving, and from the get go I start head banging so hard I felt I was going to give myself a concussion. The amount of insanely heavy riffs this track contains is enough to fuel 3 whole tracks, but nooooo, Jay decides to stuff them all in one track and serve the listener one of the heaviest instrumentals I think I ever heard. I remember at one point glancing at the screen to see how long is left in the track and I was shocked to find that it was still half way there, which put a silly grin on my face if I’m being totally honest.
As for the other instrumental, it felt as if Chuck Schuldiner, Slash, and Zakk Wylde decided to come together and create a piece of music. It also has such a catchy melody that I guarantee you will be humming it for days after.
Moving on to the rest of the tracks, one of my favorites is ‘Shine your light’ which actually has a music video that was released a little over a week ago, where you can watch it here. Its heavy, has a beautiful melodic solo and the vocal melody is so catchy it haunting.
There is another music video that was released a while back for another track called “Low” on this album. The video is a very cleverly made animation, I highly recommend you check it out. You’ll find the video by the end of the article.
Overall, in my very humble opinion, this has been my favorite release so far of the year 2017 on a global scale. This is international level stuff and I can totally see this album catapulting the band into fame and stardom.
I’m going to say something that I never said before. I give this a solid 10/10. Hands down. No contest.
Edited by: NJ Bakr
