White Reaper - The World's Best American Band (Album Review)
Tuesday, 11 April 2017
Written by Huw Baines
Hey, want to do something fun? Go listen to ‘The World's Best American Band’. White Reaper’s second LP is, from its title through its knee-slide of a cover and the fizzing power-pop songs packed within, deeply, unabashedly fun.
Not convinced? Well, here are some alternative uses for some of its best moments: the soundtrack to your last day of school, wrestling entrance music (both heel and babyface), screaming material for when there's five beers in you and the same number down your shirt, background noise for a triumphant first kiss or a guitar sting for the freeze frame after you defeat the big bad of the Cobra Kai dojo.
As on their debut, ‘White Reaper Does It Again’, the band display a deep love for roughing up AM radio-friendly melodies with stacks of riffs, but here they’re less in thrall to the Ramones and more likely to have their ears pricked by glossy ‘80s pop-rock. At times, it’s like Ric Ocasek woke up on the Sunset Strip and decided the Cars should open for Van Halen.
Anchoring this sound in the garage-punk realm that White Reaper sprang from, though, is Tony Esposito, whose vocals remain a ragged, heartfelt joy.
Whether letting fly over Judy French’s stop-start monster of a chorus or slamming his foot down on the euphoric Little Silver Cross and Party Next Door, he embodies the confidence that helps the record’s title to appear winningly cocky rather than outright tongue in cheek.
White Reaper have also become adept at slowing things down just a bit - see Crystal Pistol’s verses or Eagle Beach’s knowing strut - while lyrically they appear happy to embody the live fast, die never rush of their instrumentals. When they’re not proving to be more self-aware and emotionally intelligent than they initially appear, that is. “If you make the girls dance, the boys will dance with them,” Esposito sings on The Stack. It’s a different story on the less calculating Judy French: “Stop, read my message and tell me what you think. Let me lean close, listen to your heartbeat.”
To sum up: White Reaper know they’re good and fun is underrated.
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