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Great White - Great White

[ 1984, Hard Rock, Glam Metal ]
A fantastic and purely accidental find, LA band Great White's self-titled debut album is a fist pumping hard rocking glam shakedown.

While the lyrics might be dumber than a fish in flight school (what the FUCK is Substitute supposed to be?), Jack Russell makes sure to belt them into the air with the fierce thunder of his voice. Although I do feel he lacks a bit of that extra little something that a band like WASP or Dokken might have, I also realize that this is a very high standard I cannot possible expect them to meet. Nevertheless, he serves the band perfectly and I really can only describe his vocal delivery as thunder (perhaps like the one shown on their sophomore album haha). However, as great as Russell is as a vocalist, Mark Kendall goes even beyond as a guitar player with energetic, glamorous, heavy metal-infused riffing and lead work. The instrumentation on this album, including Lorne Black's rumbling bass, really goes above what I expect from an 80s glam album. I really cannot stress how badass a lead like on Streetkiller is, Kendall makes sure this album screams "Party!".

Out of the Night is the standout track on this album for me with its catchy chorus hook as well as, again, that incredible guitar- and bass-work that permeates the whole album. The other three standout tracks that I have to mention are Streetkiller, No Better Than Hell (that BASS) and Dead End (probably the most energetic and upbeat track on here).

This will surely appeal to fans of Dokken and Motley Crüe.