White Widdow – White Widdow

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Australia’s White Widdow are, intentionally, starting from the same place Bon Jovi did with their first two albums with bright guitar riffs and lots of keyboards and synths. That style of ’80s arena rock now has a very niche market (mostly Journey fans) as many of the bands responsible for its popularity have moved on to more contemporary sounds, Bon Jovi included. With their debut album White Widdow have retained the hard-edged sound of the guitar riffs of the time, but undo some of that with over-cheerful vocal melodies and made-for-radio choruses. Lyrically there are the requisit “rainy nights”, “broken hearts” and “hold ons” and the usual harmonies and hook lines, but nothing original. White Widdow sound like countless other bands, and there’s nothing here which hasn’t be heard before (note for note in some cases), but as there aren’t many bands around making this kind of music anymore, die-hard fans of the style should be pleased with what is actually a very well polished set of songs, clichés and all.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Rock, White Widdow