Hair metal returns with the re-release of Unveiled, one in a series of reissues from Retroactive Records. Scott Wenzel and company sound really dated here, but the disc is a fine example of the style of the day -- big guitar solos, pounding drums, chanted choruses, and the like. Two demos from the original session that got Whitecross signed are added as bonus tracks.
"If You Believe" is standard '80's metal, a la Ratt. "Home in Heaven" could be a Poison outtake, while "Goodbye Cruel World" is a Led Zeppelin as sung by Billy Squier type of song. "Angel's Disguise" proves that Whitecross follows the formula of the other metal bands of the day -- it is the obligatory ballad.
"I Keep Praying" sounds more like Whiteheart than Whitecross (or Journey with inferior vocals)...probably not a coincidence since Dan Huff, Jimmy Lee Sloas, Mark Gersmehl, and Gordon Kennedy all appear on this disc. "Come into the Light" crosses Poison with Def Leppard, and "King of Angels" is a Motley Crue soundalike. "He is the Rock" stays in the same area, and "Salt City" covers the same ground, with perhaps a dash of Cinderella.
Unveiled is a fun disc, in that it provides a time capsule of the '80's and early '90's metal sound. It's one of those things that thirty-somethings could consider a guilty pleasure, but there is no reason to be ashamed of owning this record. It stands up as well as any of the other offerings of the day.
3.5 tocks
Other coverage for this album
The Lighthouse October 1994Reviewed by Rob SzarkaLet's get this right out in the open: Whitecross' Unveiled, like so many Christian albums, is an album full of derivative and unexceptional tunes. There is nothing here that hasn't been done at least as well elsewhere. Having said that, Unveiled does have its modest charms. While most songs are reminiscent-sometimes uncannily so-of earlier tunes from AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, or the like,…Heaven's Metal #49Reviewed by Brent HersheyMake no mistake, this new release by Whitecross qualifies as a comeback attempt. All of the ingredients are here: new members, new record label, and, most of all, a couple of disappointing (even, at times, boring) records in dire need of a rebound. Unlike many, Whitecross has much to rebound to. Namely, its status as one of Christian metal's most successful bands. But, with the departure of crowd…Syndicate Aug 1994Reviewed by Arsenio OrtezaChristians who number the Vince Neil-era Motley Crue among their guilty pleasures will find in Whitecross's "new" sound an acceptable substitute. Scott Wenzel still sings like Neil, and, if anything, the production of Jimmy Lee Sloas (who's produced such un-Crue-like acts as the Imperials and PFR) enhances, rather than smoothes out, the band's metallic contours. Between crunchy nuggets like "Salt…More from Whitecross
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1988Hammer and Nail
1993To The Limit
1989Triumphant Return
1992The Reign Goes On (Video)
