Whitecross

Time to talk about one of the most famous Christian metal bands ever...Whitecross!

Their first album was my first heavy metal album, and remains one of my top 10 albums ever. This album is just awesome. The drums were like cannons and the entire bottom end was heavy as a freight train. Scott Wenzel had better moments later in Whitecross' career, but he was decent enough on this. But the guitars....of course, the guitars...were jaw dropping to a new metal fan like me at the time. It wasn't just the guitar solos per se. It was the solo fills all over the place - it really is a lost art. But the rhythm guitars were also very, very good on this album.

Hammer & Nail I like, but don't love. The drums' sound changed quite a bit, and left the music having less power than the s/t. The songwriting was still top notch, and this album has several of my favorite WC tunes, such as Top Of The World, Walk With Me, and Living On The Edge.

Triumphant Return was an aptly titled album as the huge drums made their return and the guitars were ramped up a bit in heaviness too. The quality of the production took a noticeable step up from the first two records. The band experimented here with a song that was totally out of character for them:  Simple Man. I'm in the minority believing that it worked - I love that song! But when this album rocked, it rocked! Favorites here are Attention Please, Stop Light, Down and Simple Man.

In The Kingdom was a massive disappointment for me as a fan at the time. As I've gotten older, I appreciate the album much more now than I did then, but it is still way down the list of my favorite WC albums. It had 4 ballads...FOUR! For a supposed metal band, that was (and remains) inexcusable. Now, two of them were pretty good, but still. Even the metal material here I find weak. Favorites, and there aren't many, would include No Second Chances and Good Enough.

High Gear was a step back in the right direction. The bottom end got a bit heavier again, and songs like Without Your Love and Long Road To Walk would have easily fit in the band's early catalog. The number of ballads was dropped back to three, which is still too many. Favorite songs include Dancin' In Heaven, Without Your Love, and Long Road To Walk.

The rest of the band's catalog is hit or miss. There was a noticeable drop in quality when Rex left, but they still had some good songs.

I love this band but honestly, the only thing I ever owned but the debut and 1987. I have heard more of their stuff and love what I hear but just haven't picked up the catalog. I love No Second Chances and several other tunes I have from In The Kingdom. I like the production sound of that album. Honestly, I don't think I would be interested in anything after Rex left.

When Whitecross hit the scene, I was like, here we go!  Christian Metal is ramping it up!  Hammer & Nail is my fav despite the really lame drums.  I need to get Triumphant Return again.  I misplaced it somewhere along the line.

I have them all and think they're all great (within their styles).  Favourite albums are 1987, Triumphant Return, and High Gear.

Listening to Hammer & Nail for the first time ever on Spotify. The drums just sound like 80's drums to me, nothing out of the ordinary.

The problem is that there's nothing to them. Just boom, crack, boom, boom, crack, boom, crack, crack.  Any beginning drummer could play along with it.

I've been back and forth with this band. While I always LIKE them, I don't always LOVE them as I do other bands (I'm the same with Petra).

I'm a late bloomer. My first introduction to them was "In The Kingdom".
"If He Goes Before Me" was the first song I heard on Christian radio back when the album was brand new. I really liked it- went to the CBS and listened to the demo tape in the listening booth. That was IT for me ! When I heard the Van Halen-like beginning of "Good Enough" I bought it !
Me and my friend burned that tape out listening to it to death !

Over the years I began to collect previous and later releases. First release is by far my favorite as I was a huge RATT fan back in the day. I'll have to agree with Xid that there are many songs that just run into each other on some albums, not all though. My personal tastes prevent me from loving all songs mostly due to the vocals, not the band. (No stoning me please!) I love the variety of many songs and his vocal delivery on most, but there are a few where his vox just becomes a bit too much for me. Just my personal preference.

On the positive side, I can pick out about 5 or 6 songs off each album that I love (except for 1987, where I love every song).

They are a great band !  I personally feel that Rex Carroll's departure in '93 was a serious set back for the band. Thank God he returned when he did !

I just tried to listen to some of Equilibrium on Spotify, and man is that some crap!  

I really love there earlier output (prior to Rex leaving). Some of the latter stuff I actually like as well, just not with as much consistency. When I first started following Christ (back in 2005), I thought the only Christian rock consisted of Stryper, White Heart and Petra. I was shocked when I found a copy of Hammer & Nail at my local library and discovered they were a Christian band. I probably wouldn't list them in my top ten favorites, but they are still a great band with some fantastic songs.

MikeInFla wrote:

I just tried to listen to some of Equilibrium on Spotify, and man is that some crap!  

I actually like that, but it would have sold better under a different band name.  Come to think of it--everything after Rex's departure would have been considered good releases under a different name.  "Equilibrium" had a kind of Aerosmith sound to it (think the album that had "Jani's Got A Gun" and you'll see what I mean).  It was a good listen, but it just wasn't Whitecross.  None of the post-Rex albums ever had the same thrill to me.  I'd love to hear those songs on "Unveiled" and "Equilibrium" completely redone but with Rex arranging them in a Whitecross fashion.  I think they'd be bloody brilliant, then!

My all time favorite Christain Hard Rock/Metal band. I dont really care for anything post Rex Carroll.

alldatndensum wrote:

MikeInFla wrote:

I just tried to listen to some of Equilibrium on Spotify, and man is that some crap!  

I actually like that, but it would have sold better under a different band name.  Come to think of it--everything after Rex's departure would have been considered good releases under a different name.  "Equilibrium" had a kind of Aerosmith sound to it (think the album that had "Jani's Got A Gun" and you'll see what I mean).  It was a good listen, but it just wasn't Whitecross.  None of the post-Rex albums ever had the same thrill to me.  I'd love to hear those songs on "Unveiled" and "Equilibrium" completely redone but with Rex arranging them in a Whitecross fashion.  I think they'd be bloody brilliant, then!

Agreed, with the expection of "Flytrap" there are quite a few cool songs on those post Rex albums, but they might have fared better with a different band name.

High Gear was the beginning of the end for me.  It just fell short.  I picked up Unveiled for some reason and I don't know why.

I love about 5 songs off of High Gear.
I'm actually in the minority on Flytrap. I love that whole album ! Sorry, don't throw up on your keyboards or anything, but though the album strays from their signature sound, they re-invented themselves during a time of uncertainty in Rock/Metal - and musically, I love the unique sound (despite the missing Rex). Just my personal preference (this is coming from someone who loves Holy Soldier Promise Man album)

I'm a fan of Flytrap too, although as has been stated they would have done better changing the name after Rex left.  I much prefer their earlier albums, but Unveiled and the other post Rex albums still had strong songs on them, and I played Flytrap quite a bit when it came out.

Flytrap is a cool alternative record.  If the band name had been changed to Flytrap, this would have been better received.  It's as strong as things like Plankeye or Prayer Chain that came out at the time.  In my opinion, if graded as a totally different band than Whitecross, it is BETTER than many of its contemporaries.  It's right up there with Grammatrain.

I love this band.
My favorite CDs are "In The Kingdom", "Triumphant Return" and "Unveiled".
Yes I know Rex wasn't playing guitar on that CD, but there are so many wonderful songs on "Unveiled".

I have to agree about "Unveiled". I enjoy that record quite a bit. They lost me with the last two albums. Just not a fan of that style of rock at all.

1987 was awesome!

Fundy wrote:

1987 was awesome!

Agreed!

The one and only album I have is In the Kingdom. I have the cassette (somewhere). I really like No Second Chances and We Know What's Right.

Man, I LOVE Whitecross. I have to agree (in general) with most comments about after Rex left. It wasn't the same, but they still put some really great music.

Honestly, Whitecross was so much more than just another Christian band to me. They fill in a era for me. They had such hearts for the Lord & took the ministry seriously. The music was edifying to me. It really filled in my teen years. The songs were such a blessing to me When I hear Whitecross songs now, it's takes me back & it is comforting.

Now I need to go pull out my Whitecross listen! I haven't in a while, you guys got me missing it  

Glad to help reunite a fan with his beloved band!

Readi_Sketti wrote:

Now I need to go pull out my Whitecross listen! I haven't in a while, you guys got me missing it  

  Very cool!

Let's all go and do the same.  Let's make it a 'Whitecross Weekend'