White Reaper: The World's Greatest American Rock Band ALBUM REVIEW

White Reaper are like the little garage rock band that could. They put out two solid projects in 2014 and 2015 respectively, and while they weren't reinventing the wheel, they put a lot of fun, balls out rock music that I feel the underground needs more of. However, the band have really outdone themselves on this new record, the boisterously titled, The World's Greatest American Rock Band, an album that improves everything about the band's sound and finds them exploring the sounds of the 70's and 80's all while pulling together 2017's catchiest rock music so far.

Right out of the gate this album puts forth three infectiously catchy tracks; the title track, which is the kind of song that I wish Japandroids was able to put together, with an arena sound that shows just how serious these guys are about living up to the title of this track/ album. Then we get "Judy French" which is a slick piece of 80's rock which sort of reminds me of Billy Idol, only way more upbeat, and the vocals almost give me an early Metallica feel with the way the lead singer goes into these high pitched screeches from time to time. Then there's "Eagle Beach" which is aptly titled, as I could easily see this track being the sound track to a nice beach side jam session.

These three tracks are some of the longest the band has ever produced, and they are also perhaps the most ambitious as well. That being said, the fourth track "Little Silver Cross" is sort of a drag relative to what preceded it and what follows right after; especially cuts like "The Stack" which sounds like a great Tim era Replacements B-Side, and "Daisies" which is just a sunny as the title makes it sound.

The only other moment that I wasn't too fond of was the finishing track "Another Day", which isn't bad, but it's almost like the band is reverting to their old sound, and in the context of all these bright, clear and loud rock songs, this track feels like a demo, and it leaves the album off on an odd note. But, aside from a couple of iffy tracks and a certain lack of absolute originality, because let's face it, this album is mostly a revival of rock sounds that haven't sounded this great in around four decades, I'd say that TWGRB is a fantastic rock album from top to bottom, and is well worth your time.

8.6/10