WHITE WIDDOW

‘Serenade’, the second album by Australian melodic rock band White Widdow, possesses a high quality production, tight musicianship and, on the surface, has much to offer. The opening tracks ‘Cry Wolf’ and ‘Strangers In The Night’ kick off with an intro very much like the Survivor classic ‘American Heartbeat’ but this early promise soon fades. Unfortunately the songs are mostly competent but, apart from the stunning ‘Mistake’, tend to lack any really memorable choruses or killer hooks. It doesn't take long before you lose interest in White Widdow's repetitious, keyboard dominated sound. ‘Serenade’ is largely AOR by numbers and generally void of the depth of songwiritng that makes the likes of Boston/Foreigner such great bands. It is also a long way short of classics recorded by bands listed as their major influences such as Survivor's ‘Vital Signs’ or White Sister's self-titled debut. Devoted fans of this genre will still probably find enough on this album to enjoy but I feel everyone else will find ‘Serenade’ both underwhelming and uninspiring.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

AOR Heaven

Album

SERENADE

Review by Dave Crewe

RUNNING TIME:

45:36

RELEASE DATE:

26th Sept 2011

TRACK LISTING

1) Cry Wolf
2) Strangers in the Night
3) Do You Remember
4) Reckless Nights
5) How Far I Run
6) Serenade
7) Show Your Cards
8) Mistake
9) Patiently
10) Love Won't Wait

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Australia

"Devoted fans of this genre will still probably find enough on this album to enjoy but I feel everyone else will find ‘Serenade’ both underwhelming and uninspiring."