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Album O' The Week : Return Of The Pride from White Lion
I'm weird when it comes to music. For some reason, I like some bands because they are light and poppy, and I hate other bands for the same reason. White Lion is one of those bands. I liked the light airheaded feel of 80's White Lion while publicly deriding several bands from the era that were striving for that exact thing.
Not that Mike Tramp and those guys were totally wimpy (some songs from early White Lion crunched along quite nicely actually) but Tramp's voice always seemed to lend a pop feel even though the music might have been metal. The new album, Return Of The Pride, loses some of that I think. Not that it's bad, but when I listened to it this morning (and it's blasting through MFA corporate right now, much to Crazy and Joe's chagrin) I felt like Tramp was trying too hard to be hard when everyone knows that hard is not what made White Lion a multi-million record selling band.
The first thing you can tell, as you would probably expect, is that the dude playing guitar for White Lion is not Vito Bratta. That probably speaks volumes as to why this album doesn't appeal to me very much, as it was Bratta's hooks and solos that made me a fan in the first place. It's definitely lacking his touch, and with Tramp's singing style and delivery certainly changed, it seems obvious that White Lion is wanting to go in a different direction with their style of rock and roll.
Nothing wrong with that, for sure, but I guess I was just wishing for some stuff that sounded like the old days. Sangre de Christo certainly stands out among these new songs, as it was one that really got me going. The others are good (don't get me wrong, I don't want to be totally negative) but not good enough to truly stand out to me.
White Lion's new album is Return Of The Pride. We look forward to seeing them out on the road this year and we are certainly glad they are still putting out new music. Check out some audio samples right here on their website.
Not that Mike Tramp and those guys were totally wimpy (some songs from early White Lion crunched along quite nicely actually) but Tramp's voice always seemed to lend a pop feel even though the music might have been metal. The new album, Return Of The Pride, loses some of that I think. Not that it's bad, but when I listened to it this morning (and it's blasting through MFA corporate right now, much to Crazy and Joe's chagrin) I felt like Tramp was trying too hard to be hard when everyone knows that hard is not what made White Lion a multi-million record selling band.
The first thing you can tell, as you would probably expect, is that the dude playing guitar for White Lion is not Vito Bratta. That probably speaks volumes as to why this album doesn't appeal to me very much, as it was Bratta's hooks and solos that made me a fan in the first place. It's definitely lacking his touch, and with Tramp's singing style and delivery certainly changed, it seems obvious that White Lion is wanting to go in a different direction with their style of rock and roll.
Nothing wrong with that, for sure, but I guess I was just wishing for some stuff that sounded like the old days. Sangre de Christo certainly stands out among these new songs, as it was one that really got me going. The others are good (don't get me wrong, I don't want to be totally negative) but not good enough to truly stand out to me.
White Lion's new album is Return Of The Pride. We look forward to seeing them out on the road this year and we are certainly glad they are still putting out new music. Check out some audio samples right here on their website.
Tags: return of the pride, white lion
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Doc. Wango Tango Metal De Tangy on -
I wonder if it is the original members
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Permalink Reply by Lili Reilly on -
No, they are definitely not the original members
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Permalink Reply by SlamThunderhide -- MFA Admin on -
sheet rockers
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on -
Great album!!! One of the best of '08....White Lion is one of those bands that is keeping that 80's style rock alive.....
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Permalink Reply by Jason - MFA Dickhead on -
I am afraid I have yet to give this one much of a listen.
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Permalink Reply by YGORKNIGHT on -
Only piece i like WHEN the CHILDREN CRY is demential song with lirycs
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Permalink Reply by passionseeker on -
The only original member is Mike Tramp.This "Whitelion" line up is great live. I like this album but I love their first 4!
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Permalink Reply by Röck¥ L@RöcK on -
The new White Lion is definitely a whole different animal. I had the privilige and the honor to work with the organizers of one of the Mexican tour dates last May, and the band sounds totally awesome!!! Jamie, Troy, Claus and Henning are all great and very talented musicians.
I got this album from Mike Tramp himself, and think it's pretty good. My favorite song is "Dream", because it came to me in a time when all of my dreams had been literally smashed to smithereens :..( and it actually gave me a friendly reminder that there's life (even after a broken heart) ... Hehehe, sorry for the cliché :p
Give it a listen and let it sink into you, you won't regret it!!!
This is me with Mike Tramp
And these are my kids and nephew with the whole band
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Permalink Reply by Hollyweird on -
mike tramp is a hottie! :) the first pride album was awesome too.
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Permalink Reply by Johnny Rocker on -
I agree, He's trying to hard.
Of course I lost all respect for the guy when I saw him on VH1 a couple years back where he was asking the world to forgive him for being glam durring the 80"s! What a poser!!!
I like his old stuff, maybe thier next cd will be better if he relaxes back into what they were good at!
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Permalink Reply by Patrick lyons on -
I really think there first album was really good, Fight to Survive.. One of only rock stars i have every meet.. Vito and Mike...
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