Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By White Reaper, Elektra Records 2019.
This is the debut album for White Reaper on Elektra Records and it represents a change in direction for the band.
You Deserve Love is a collection of catchy pop/rock songs that have repositioned White Reaper from ragged punk thrashers to a more polished mainstream, radio-friendly band.
The sound is apparently closer to the ideal that the collective band members have been hearing in their heads without ever achieving it in the studio – their choice of producer making the difference this time around.
The album was recorded in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce, who has worked with artists such as Emmylou Harris, The Wallflowers, Patty Griffin and Cage The Elephant and many others.
Vocalist Tony Esposito, commenting on the recording process, said:
“We didn’t tell (Joyce) it has to sound like 1977 or anything like our other material… it was all about making our songs sound good… about making them stand on their own.”
Joyce has kept some of White Reaper’s brashness, while making it more palatable to mainstream audiences.
I’m yet to make my mind up about the new direction, but many critics have already given it a thumbs up.
According to Paste Magazine, “Esposito’s vocals still spike and crackle like a live wire over big, brash guitars.”
Consequence Of Sound declared, “It’s still loud, it’s still a little snotty, and it’s still White Reaper.”
And UPROXX commented on the single saying, “Real Long Time might be one of the year’s catchiest rock songs.”
I think that, in a quest for arena stardom, White Reaper have willingly given away too much of their edge.
Jay Joyce has tidied up their sound a little too much and placed them squarely in the middle of the pack, which is ironically where the band was aiming.
