Artist: White Wolf
Album: Standing alone

Rel. Date: 2016-10-06
Genre: Hard Rock
Label: BMG/RCA
Source: CD
Type: Reissue
Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo

From Edmonton, Alberta, Canada came White Wolf.
The land that spawned the massive West Edmonton
Mall also produced a hard rock band that combined
old fashioned Canadian workmanship with
prototypical 80’s rock and heavy metal.  Sharing
common ground with bands like Scorpions, Dokken,
and even Van Halen and Rainbow, White Wolf weren’t
half bad.  The singer Don Wolf (Wilk) has enough
power in his voice to raise the roof just enough
to be an opening band in an arena.  They’re not
quite headline quality, but I bet they were damn
good openers.
Their debut album Standing Alone is best known for
the single/video “Shadows in the Night”, still my
favourite song from the band.  In fact I think
it’s quite excellent.  The chugging riff, the
excellent vocals and chorus, it has everything!
It even had a suitably cheesy and sexist music
video, portraying the band as some sort of
wilderness totem hero/villains.  Don’t worry,
maybe it’s all a dream, or  just a hell of a bush
party/concert?  Hell, I don’t know.
Thankfully the album is more than just one song.
The track “Standing Alone” is a mid-tempo but
ominous opener, a mournful song about (guess what)
standing alone! (Like a wolf?  Layers!)
“Headlines” is uptempo, verging on Priest
territory.  Both have plenty of guitar work to go
around.  They are followed by “Shadows in the
Night” and the seven minute plus “What the War
Will Bring”.  This a pretty respectable shot at
doing an epic.  Utilizing multiple vocalists and
backing keyboards, it’s a tour-de-force suitable
for closing side one of the album.
“Night Rider” begins with bad King-Kobra-esque
vocal harmonies, but quickly gets into a dual
guitar melody before it takes off.  This would be
one of the weakest songs with one of those awful,
cliche titles.  “Homeward Bound” is a fun song
utilizing two lead vocalists, but that riff sure
does sound familiar.  Although the guitar rips off
“God of Thunder” by Kiss a little bit, this is one
of the better songs.  I love the dual vocalist
concept, and it’s a fun sleazy romp like 80’s
Kiss.  “Metal Thunder” is a pretty poor song
title, but a decent stomp through territory
previously explored by the likes of Judas Priest.
“Trust Me” is the final song, clearly inspired by
Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow.  All it needs is
Ronnie James Dio shouting, “Danger! Danger!” and
suddenly it’s “Kill the King”.
There’s a certain kind of Canadian mediocrity that
exudes from bands like White Wolf and label-mates
Thor.  This even extended to bands like Triumph
and Helix, at various parts of their careers.  I
don’t know what it is, but so many Canadian bands
of this sub-genre just failed to explode into
fully-fledged world-classic song writing and
recording.  Maybe it’s touring in a little van
during harsh Canadian winters, but I think I’ve
made a valid observation.
All that being said, for the $7.00 I paid for this
record, I have no regrets.  Standing Alone doesn’t
overstay its welcome, nor does it fail to raise a
smile any time I’ve played it.  I’m glad to
finally have “Shadows in the Night”, and I’m
pleased to induct songs like “Homeward Bound” into
my collection for the first time.

1.  Standing Alone                            3:59
2.  Headlines                                 4:21
3.  Shadows in the Night                      4:21
4.  What the War Will Bring                   7:45
5.  Night Rider                               3:46
6.  Homeward Bound                            4:10
7.  Metal Thunder                             4:52
8.  Trust Me                                  4:21
37:35