How We End “How We End”
An excellent debut album from How We End, a modern multi-national European metal band featuring former members from Evanescence, Nervosa and Amaranthe and current members from Primal Fear and Cyhra.
I first saw Swedish vocalist Jake E perform at a basement club in Tokyo in 2011 with Amaranthe. The band was new and had just released its debut album. They were in Japan to showcase themselves to the press and the music industry. I immediately saw that he was someone with a difference. He was a great vocalist but also had a drive and a desire as a person, artist and entrepreneur. He wanted more and was prepared to go above and beyond. Amaranthe became a big success with their early albums and tours doing well in Japan and elsewhere. Jake left the band a few years later and started Cyhra with Alex Landenburg of Kamelot. He has also been busy with other artists and projects. How We End is one of them and the band is about to release its self-titled debut album.
How We End is a modern multi-national European band formed in 2022. It has old-school heavy guitar riffs but also modern keyboard soundscapes. It has plenty of harsh growling but also catchy sing-along melodies. It is a band of contrasts. The mix of styles works well. The band consists of vocalist Jake E, growler Diva Satanica (Bloodhunter, ex-Nervosa), guitarists Tom Naumann (Primal Fear, Sinner) and Jen Majura (ex-Evanescence), Mitch Kunz on bass and keyboards and Adde Larsson (Red Wolf, Cyhra, Kamelot) on drums. Band members like Jake and Tom have plenty of experience in songwriting and studio production. That can certainly be heard on this album. It is a new band but its members come with plenty of experience and pedigree.
The contrasting vocal styles of Diva and Jake work incredibly well together and give the band’s modern, energetic and melodic metal an edge. “My Cyanide” is an early favourite. So are “Does Anybody Give” and “Welcome to My Life”. But the best song is perhaps “Same Blood”. Or maybe “Face Everything” is best. Or… This is an album full of fresh, catchy modern metal performed by a great band of musicians. Many of the songs are fast and full of energy, but there is variety between and within the songs on the album. For example, the track “We All Die Young”, is a great power ballad.
How We End’s self-titled debut album will be released on 28th June via Ward Records.
