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Band: Westenra
Album title: Burn Me Once
Release date: 5 November 2025
Label: Self-Release
Genre: Gothic Rock, Gothic Metal
Tracklist:
01. (Monitus)
02. Ghosts In The Machine
03. Sweet Poison Pill
04. Time
05. For All To See
06. Hold Me Close
07. Devil Don't Change
08. Stuck In A Cage
09. I Regret
10. Burn Me Once
Although the UK gothic scene hasn’t held the dominance it once enjoyed, interesting bands still emerge from time to time. Westenra, a relatively new outfit formed in 2019, released a handful of singles and EPs before unveiling their debut album First Light in 2021. Despite offering solid, if not particularly addictive, gothic rock, the album largely slipped under the radar — or rather, it failed to gain much traction within the wider goth community. Four years later, Westenra, led by vocalist Luciferia, returned with a new self‑released album, Burn Me Once.
The meaningfully titled record delivers ten tracks that explore the emotional carousel of love, regret, sorrow, and the burning of bridges, while also touching on the dangers of social media and the growing presence of AI. I may be wrong, but I doubt Westenra will achieve a major breakthrough with this release either — not because the material is poor, it's a step forward if compared to their debut, but because Burn Me Once is simply too retro for the current direction of the modern gothic scene.
Musically, Westenra offer a pleasant gothic rock experience with occasional detours into metal territory, yet always with a distinct punk‑tinged spirit. Their sound sits somewhere between Fields Of The Nephilim, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Faith And The Muse, The Spiritual Bat, Theatre Of Hate, Paradise Lost, with a faint echo of Evanescence, Within Temptation and even Iron Maiden. After a powerful and effective intro, the first thing that stands out is the rough production — as if the album had been recorded in the early ’90s. But that’s not necessarily a flaw; it may well be the element that gives the record its character, its rebellious edge. Tracks like "Ghosts In The Machine" and "Devil Don’t Change" would be hard to imagine with a cleaner, more polished sound.
At times, the listener can easily sink into the well‑constructed atmospheric build‑ups, such as in the almost epic "Sweet Poison Pill" or the emotionally charged "I Regret" and the closing title track. Yet elsewhere the album becomes slightly tiresome — I’m thinking of more average tracks like "For All To See" or "Stuck In A Cage". Luciferia’s vocals are strong, dynamic, rich, and deep, but she does have certain limitations in the higher soprano range and at the very low end. One almost wishes she would avoid pushing into those extremes; the chorus of "I Regret" shows her at her best, while some vocal lines in the same track — and in the ballad‑leaning "Hold Me Close" — go a touch too far and become distracting.
Even so, Burn Me Once is a dynamic and energetic album filled with catchy melodies, sing-along refrains, strong riffs, and musical structures that guide the listener smoothly from one mood to another. There is, however, a degree of inconsistency: a few weaker moments in attempts at high drama, some vocal overreaching, and an overall roughness that doesn’t always work in the album’s favour. Westenra clearly have potential, though they don’t fully tap into it here. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to hear how these songs might fare with a cleaner, more polished production. Still, they’re a band worth keeping an eye on — they may well surprise us in the future, depending on the path they choose and, ultimately, on what their ambitions truly are.
Review by Tomaz
Rating: 7/10
