This was White Lion’s fourth and final album, and yes I’m aware that there was an album put out under the band’s name in 2008, but basically that is a Mike Tramp solo album. They shone bright for nearly ten years and then they were gone like most of the melodic bands of the period. This album is often overlooked as it didn’t have the hit singles, but this is a killer record.
We open up with Lights And Thunder and Vito Bratta is ripping his guitar a new one at the intro. The song kicks ass with a killer riff and groove and a much harder edge to the sound. Broken Heart is the one song I do remember being released as a single, in the UK at least, and it has that typical mid-eighties sound with the big hook and chorus, and that solo is beautiful. Leave Me One carries on with that harder edge with an almost funky groove. Its riff is dirty and mean, plus the solo is wild, it’s my favourite track. Love Don’t Come Easy (I think) was also a single, and IMHO it’s the weakest song on the album, by ’91 I was all ballad-ed out. Side 1 closes out with You’re All I Need and it’s another ballad…
Side 2 opens up with Warsong, and this is what the whole album should have been like. A pounding beat and groove with Vito giving it the beans on the guitar, simple but fun and that middle section smokes. It’s Over follows and this should have been a single. The hook, chorus, and melody cry out for radio play. Till Death Us Do Part is yet another ballad, admittedly with a bit of crunch. The rock returns with Out With The Boys, a typical White Lion tune: big riff, catchy hook and chorus. The album closes out with Farewell To You, a lighters in the air big power ballad.
So, way too many ballads. The rockin’ songs are freakin’ awesome, and with what was happening around them (regarding the whole grunge thing), that should have been the way to go.
8.5/10 from The Grooveman.
