WHITE WOLF - Standing Alone

Posted: 01/07/08

Reviewed by: Dirt

Category: Heavy Metal / Hard Rock

Released: 1984  Reissued: 2007

Artist URL: www.whitewolfworld.com

To Purchase CDs: www.whitewolfworld.com/store.html

Standing Alone is an essential purchase for all fans of heavy metal and hard rock from the early to mid 80s.  It seems like every single metal/hard rock release that came out prior to 1985 was a gem and White Wolf's Standing Alone is no exception.  Now, twenty-three years later it has been reissued on CD in Japan as a limited edition deluxe miniaturized LP sleeve replica of the original vinyl release.  For some reason, it always seems like the Japanese get this music better than North American music fans - thus the fact that reissues see the light of day there and not in the grand ol' USA.

Originally appearing in 1980 as a cover band called Warrior and performing songs by Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Judas Priest, and Scorpions, the band became White Wolf when they signed to RCA Records in 1984.  Standing Alone, fueled by the video "Shadows In The Night," sold 250,000 copies worldwide.

Standing Alone was an original sounding recording, spotlighting a strong production, great riffs, fire burning guitar solos, up-front drumming, and the powerful vocals of Don Wilk.  The cohesive set of songs balanced melody with high-energy heavy metal.  While keyboards could have cheesed them out, the band used them so well  that the keys actually gave the band their somewhat mystical and haunting aura - a sound that defined this album and songs like "Night Rider," "Metal Thunder," the title track, and the excellent single, "Shadows In The Night."

The Bloody Truth: An underground classic if ever there was one, Standing Alone is a must have for fans of 'when metal was good' (sorry folks, it sucks now for the most part!).  If the music business was fair, this album would have made White Wolf a household name.  Add this one to your collection - it will fit nicely next to Helix, Grim Reaper, Accept, and Krokus.

Standing Alone was also recently reissued by the UK's Escape Music as a 2-cd digi-pack, packaged along with the band's sophomore effort, Endangered Species.  The cool thing about Escape Music's double disc digi-pack is that band's two versions of the videos for "Shadows In The Night" and video for "She" are included on the cd's.  Visit www.whitewolfworld.com for more info and to purchase cd's.