WHITE WIZZARD - "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE" (2018)

WHITE WIZZARD - "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE"
(Running time: 61:04 minutes; 9 songs)
("M-Theory Audio" & "Riffs of the Rose"; 2018; CD):

Damn it, February 2018 is really damn silent and quiet... and not only up here... starting off stressful and work-intensive and culminating in a fucked up influenza currently that's striking me down since last Wednesday. I hate this crap. But it seems that 'things' starting to get finally better again and so I decided to finally leave the bed one more time this day and start finally on working some new stuff again up here and so here now comes my or the next post which means the next new record-review is now aiming at you and this time it takes us all back into the world of Heavy Metal and/or Power Metal and so here's my record-review on the (brand)new WHITE WIZZARD full-length disc "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE" released (still pretty/very recently) via "M-THEORY AUDIO" in cooperation with "RIFFS OF THE ROSE" (the two labels were totally unknown before this CD to me). "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE" was and/or is my first experience with the American Heavy Metal powerhouse WHITE WIZZARD from Los Angeles, California/U.S.A. and so don't expect any comparisions to their earlier works and also don't expect any notes about their (so it seems) ever-changing band members, yes, and with that out of the way here we go: Here we get very crisp and sharp'n'heavy hitting and yet very melodic and very, very playful and definitely sophisticated and (sort of) 'proggy' Heavy Metal with here and there a clearly epic approach to it and with really strong NWOBHM influences namely especially IRON MAIDEN had a huge impact on WHITE WIZZARD's "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE" and also JUDAS PRIEST here and there a good and heavy bit (especially the very strong and harsh and stunning opener and title-track "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE" rages on with nice "PAINKILLER" reminiscences). What I really love is that WHITE WIZZARD also manage to 'in-work' a bunch of nice'n'strong modern notes and influences in their own way and so they keep it nicely fresh and also they maintain a pretty good'n'strong own character/identity. A very diverse and rich songwriting that really offers one hell of an exciting ride with ever varying paces/tempi and rhythms, good to fantastic songarrangements with mostly damn strong verses as well as mostly really mighty refrains, formidable riffs, good to great fresh and pretty 'modern' grooves and a lot of grapping twists'n'turns all along the ride and all is very fresh, playful, and soulful, yes, and all is delivered by very skilled musicians, hell yeahr, that's all marking WHITE WIZZARD's "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE" heavily and strongly. Sometimes I would just wish that they would cut some of the all to 'epic'n'proggy' parts so that the songs would 'come more to point' and that the absolutely amazing and outstanding lead vocals would have (even) more room to shine. But that's mostly or basically my only concern here with WHITE WIZZARD's "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE". The absoultely amazing sharp and powerful, clear and melodic, highly charismatic lead vocals I simply love and the multi-layered and diverse guitar work is just pure platinum (even sometimes a bit 'rampantly' arranged'n'done), the truly walking'n'talking bass is very present and the drumming is just stunning and adding a lot of heavy weight to the songs. My personal favorites are "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE", the damn catchy and true anthem "STORM THE SHORES" that's a true through'n'through hit , the massive and epic "VOYAGE OF THE WOLF RAIDERS", the sharp cutting PRIEST-like Banger "CRITICAL MASS", and the epic masterpiece "THE ILLUSION'S TEARS". This is a demanding and sort of challenging album (in all the right ways and for all the right reasons - or mostly) and definitely not your ordinary run of the mill Power Metal album, yes, and so give it more than one try if it may not convinces you right from the get-go. We also get very strong and 'suprisingly fresh' lyrics, a very cool artwork, and a hard hitting production-sound on top of it all. Not all is gold, but a lot is gold, pure gold. I can only recommend WHITE WIZZARD's "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE" to anyone of you into Heavy Metal and so I will now leave you with my, yes, clear recommendations to give it a try or better buy it promptly. And more soon again up here, yes, trust me and take my word(s) on it.

(8 of 10 points)

https://www.facebook.com/WhiteWizzard (-the link to the facebook site of the band)

WHITE WIZZARD - "STORM THE SHORES" (2018, "INFERNAL OVERDRIVE")