Only Slightly Empty＜限定盤/Black & White Colorway Vinyl＞

It took more than getting dropped by their label and losing the rhythm section to put a damper on White Reaper. Their 2025 album Only Slightly Empty has all the elements on board that have made all their other releases such a delight. Listed in order of increasing importance: crisp and clean production, guitars that split the difference between hard rock thunder and power pop chime, charming dude-next-door vocals, and huge hooks. Its all here and all working perfectly well as the band -- now down to a trio -- crank through a batch of songs that would sound real good on a summer playlist in between Cheap Trick and Weezer. The record shoots out of the gate with not a little force with the trio of "Coma," a metallic blast of riffage; "Blink," an emo-punk update on Thin Lizzy; and "Honestly," one of their poppiest melodies yet, which pairs nicely with the vocal harmonies, bubbling synth bops, and power chords. A lot of bands would have stopped there and called it a day, content to phone in the rest of the album. The guys in White Reaper are just getting started. From that brilliant opening, they head into minor-chord, melancholy territory on the razor-sharp "Freakshow," delve into some jangle pop ("Pocket") and strutting 70s glitter rock ("Eraser"), and get kinda grungy on a trio of ballads that have enough energy and verve to stay afloat. In fact, the overdriven dirge "Blue 42" is one of the albums strongest songs, with Tony Espositos plaintive vocals meshing perfectly with the grind and release of the rest of the song. This swerve into deeper waters on the back half of the album is something of a surprise after the sparkling, somewhat lighthearted beginning, but the band pull off the tonal shift with no problem at all. it shows some nice growth for the band: they might not have been able to put across the deep emotions and heaviness of a song like "Rubber Cement" in the past, but the ballad is one of the albums highlights. Not too many other bands working this side of the guitar rock street are able to bundle together hooks and heart, noise, and melody quite as well as White Reaper do on Only Slightly Empty. ~ Tim Sendra