Year : 1982 (Karthago Records Limited Edition 2021)
Style : Melodic Hard Rock , Melodic Heavy Metal
Country : Belgium
Audio : 320 kbps + scans
Size : 127 mb
Bio:
By the end of the 70’s, Rob and Dirk, two guitarists from Antwerp, decided they had enough songs to form a band and hit the road.Thus WHITE HEAT was born.In the early 80’s hard rock bands gained popularity and in 1981 WHITE HEAT opened for Ted Nugent in Forest National, Brussels and they were offered a record deal with Mausoleum Records. In 1982, their first self-entitled album “White Heat” was released.This immediately gave them the status of biggest hard rock band in Belgium and lots of opportunities to play live. It didn’t go unnoticed and soon they were approached by producer Ron Westerbeek to record an LP at the Bulletsound Studios in Holland and sign a major record deal with 21 Records.In order to keep the drive and power of the band on stage, the second album “Krakatoa“ was recorded live in the studio and released in 1983. Reviews were great and the band started a major tour in Holland, Belgium and Germany.In 1985 WHITE HEAT recorded their third album “Running for Life” with British producer John Tilly.Late 1985 a single version of “True Love” was released and became "troetelschijf" on radio Hilversum 3, which gave it heavy rotation.Due to circumstances WHITE HEAT disbanded in 1986 after 6 years of intensive touring and having lots of fun.And in 2021 the saga continues...In 2020, during the corona crisis, Rob and Stan decided it was time to get the show back on the road.Some of the original members were unavailable and they searched for worthy replacements: Flype Lemmens, former singer of well-known Belgian bands such as Twilight, Double Diamond and Fireforce joined the band.On guitar we have whizz-kid Yannick De Pauw, former guitar player of Brides of Lucifer.The man behind the drumkit is Steve Vanderperren of 10 Rogue (amongst many others).
Album:
Re-release from the 1982 album with many bonus tracks! Karthago Classics CD with coloured tray! Limited edition! Hail the good people at Karthago and Pure Steel Records who shoveled their way to Belgium’s premium hard rocking entity, neatly titled White Heat.Naturally, when you stumble upon an album published in 1982, you are well aware of what you are about to hear. It’s the sound of the era, just before thrash metal came into play. White Heat is not different. They fitted right in. If I would to name their influences, they are clearly coming from the British side. Deep Purple and early Whitesnake. However, the Belgian quintet didn’t miss out on the appearance of the new wave of British heavy metal. Combining the two, the self-titled debut album is a fairly successful take on the style of music ruling the time when it was created.When I say “fairly successful”, I mean just that. There is a clear reason why bands like White Heat never grew in proportion to their more famous colleagues. And it’s not just the country of origin.While “White Heat” is a good record, no doubt, it falls short of the contemporary masterpieces. The same year that saw this album also saw the release of “Number of the Beast”, “Blackout”, “Screaming for Vengeance”, “Iron Fist”, “Under the Blade”, “The Eagle has Landed”, “Saints and Sinners”, ..I could go on forever with this list.“White Heat”, on the other hand, offers a collection of songs that follow the creative patterns of the band’s heroes. Obviously, the Belgians learned all they could and displayed it in full. Unfortunately for them, the tracks on this album, though stylish and catchy are no stellar hits. Especially in the above mentioned competition.Okay, perhaps this record is not quite a classic you must not miss out. Yet, it is not a complete waste of time and money (it is quite affordable with this re-release). Far from it! As I said, the songs present here are catchy and memorable. Standardized riffing, rhythms and a finely tuned voice are all there and put together as they should be. A great choice for your smoke-filled, sweaty pub for a couple of hours of honest hard rocking.Oh, and not to forget, there are a couple of greatly accentuated choruses to rush the blood straight to your head. Either one of them, since love (or its derivate) is the predominant theme of “White Heat”. “Rock ‘n Roll Kick”, “Keep Cool Girl” or “Babbling Wind” as best examples.And just so it’s not all cliché (at least from 21st century’s perspective), the album contains no power ballads and no self-titled song.When the original and re-mastered ten tracks are up, the album goes enhanced with four re-recorded songs. Just to show the band is active again and ready to go out on stage again. These four songs are further developed, too. Most noteworthy is the keyboard background in “In Need of Ya”, but the vocals are also (at least in my opinion) better. It would seem Mr. Flype Lemmens’s vocal chords are a fine replacement for the original singer. Plus he looks like Halford’s doppelganger.By the way, under the wings of the same two labels named above, you can also find the second White Heat record, “Krakatoa”. Whether “Runnin’ for Life” will be included in this series is the question to ask. Either way, White Heat is a worthy archaeological dig for the rockers and rollers out there. Another question is whether the Belgians will go on and push a new record with this new found attention at hand. Me, I do hope they will.
Line-Up:
Tigo (Tiger) Fawzi - Vocals - See also: ex-Sleeze Beez
Filip Lemmens - Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals (tracks: 11, 12, 13, 14)
Dirk Cleyburgh - Guitars (1980-1986)
Robby Walter - Guitars (1980-1986, 2020-2025)
Sam Lemmens - Guitar (tracks: 11, 12, 13, 14)
Stan Verfaillie - Bass (?-1986, 2020-2025) - See also: 10 Rogue, ex-Ambush
Frank Pauwels - Drums
Steve Vanderperren - Drums (tracks: 11, 12, 13, 14)
Production:
Tracks 11-14 - Re-Recording By The 2021 Line-Up
Composed By – Cleybergh, Walter, Tigo
Design [Front Cover] – Jurq De Munk
Engineer – Ward Kuczynski
Executive-Producer – Falckenbach, Felsenstein*, Holmgren
Producer – Leo Rockstone
Typography [Lettering], Layout [Lay-out] – Blueprint
Tracklist:
01. To the Land of the Rock 03:19
02. Supertramp 03:04
03. Never Mind 04:12
04. In Need of Ya 04:54
05. Babbling Wind 03:03
06. Calling 04:27
07. Keep Cool Girl 03:42
08. Oh Girl 04:00
09. Don't Act Cold with Me 03:45
10. Rock 'n' Roll Kick 03:54
11. In Need of Ya (2021) (Bonus Track)
12. Babbling Wind (2021) (Bonus Track)
13. Calling (2021) (Bonus Track)
14. Keep Cool Girl (2021) (Bonus Track)
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