WHITE WOLF – Victim Of The Spotlight

The once forward-storming Canadian Melodic Rockers in White Wolf have resurrected to put out the album that has been awaited for more than 20 years. They now sound even more invigorated than ever before, filled with a new energy. The band was formed way back in 1980 and they quickly became a popular live act. They started early to write originals, and began to record their music. After sending their demo tapes around, they got a lot of record company offers, from such labels as Heavy Metal Records and Music For Nations. They decided to sign a deal with the more rapidly expanding record label RCA Group in 1984 and put out their debut LP Standing Alone in the same year. This release was followed by their second album, Endangered Species, two years later. They continued with their career until 1987 and then the band unfortunately quit. Nobody knew it would take 20 long years until White Wolf returned with another release, quite a respectable comeback album called Victim Of The Spotlight.

21 years since the song “Snake Charmer” ended the White Wolf story on the 1986 release Endangered Species, title track “Victim Of The Spotlight” opens up the comeback CD and continues the story. A short atmospheric intro starts another chapter in the tale of White Wolf and then tosses out the headline carried by a guitar riff that is shortly followed by the rhythm section. Don Wolf starts to fill the pages of the book again with a high-pitched scream that certainly gives a wonderful feeling, and for the long-time White Wolf fans, it was definitely worth the 20 years of waiting. Mr. Wolf has a wonderful voice and he sounds a little like Meat Loaf, or a Meat Loaf that has caught a cold. His voice sounds a little diffused at times, but all in all comes through very well.

The music is fantastic — “Victim Of The Spotlight” is a fabulous tune! The guitar solo starts out great, and this is how a guitar should sound like; loud and screaming. However, the solo doesn’t maintain its outstanding shape when a lot of talentless pull-offs and a totally insignificant end appears. It’s quite unbelievable that a guitar solo could turn so fatal after starting out so good.

White Wolf is possibly one of the most underrated bands to come from Canada in the 1980’s. The band was not that well-known to the majority of music fans, but has always been a shining star for the Melodic Rock fanatics. Underrated or not, they gained a lot of attention from their audience during the first half of the 80s, and had a quickly growing fan base. White Wolf has always delivered good song material (mostly), and the second song on Victim Of The Spotlight is no exception of their excellent songwriting skills. A reflection of the band’s name appears in this song: “The Wolf.” It’s a tune that starts out with a riff that sounds a little Arabian-inspired at times. The drum production is outstanding! Twin guitars appear and the refrain is awesome — the steady, one-note pounding foundation the bass guitar makes is very cool. An outstandingly cool guitar solo comes in midway into the song. This is really a delightful tune and should absolutely be checked out!

Victim Of The Spotlight contains 12 great songs. The highlights are many! Among the already mentioned songs you’ll get the heavy riffing “Hold On (Getting Tighter),” which has a guitar riff that sounds almost Power Metal inspired. It could not be more delightful listening when the bass comes in with its steady pounding on one note. It does indeed reach the higher ground! And, the vocal harmonies are just awesome. Another great track is “Don’t Turn Away,” which is a classic sounding Melodic Rock tune. This one’s a duet between Don Wolf and lead guitarist Cam Macleod, who has a fantastic voice as well!

One outstanding track leads to another one, and actually there’s no really week moments on this record, just a few trifles disable the songs in reaching the very top, like bad or boring guitar solos and some riffs that sounds emaciated. It mostly depends on the work of the two guitarists, because their playing varies. Sometimes a total nightmare to listen to, and just a few seconds later they impress like hell. It’s very obvious that Cam Macleod and Martin Kronlund could have done better work with the guitars in some places on this record. Anyway, they deserve to be praised, because they do have their great moments as well.

The production is very good; a great mixture between the instruments as well as showing off the music in an excellent way. Guitarist Martin Kronlund was the man behind the sound of this record and he managed to do the job in a splendid way! Just hope this is not the last you’ll hear from the Canadian band now that they’re finally back together. If they keep on delivering music that holds this standard, they’ll definitely have a successful future in front of them! Victim Of The Spotlight is another great example of how full of quality the Melodic Rock scene is this year. It’s an outstanding record. It’s surely a record for the past as well as for the future. White Wolf has created an excellent record, an album that is highly recommended.

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