Customer Reviews

Fight to Survive

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I grew up in Staten Island,NY (where some of these guys are from) and first purchased this on vinyl at one of their local shows. White Lion was managed by the owners of the infamous rock club, L'Amours, and would play there every month. With so many glam and hair acts playing at the time, these guys stood out. They could sell out any New York rock club quicker than most national and signed bands. Although Pride was a bigger success and more polished, you need to pick up this cd to realize what an insane prodigy Vito Bratta was and how hard and raw the band really was. Check out the original version of Broken Heart and All the Fallen Men. White Lion's latter success overshadowed their true musical genius but Fight to Survive will always be a testament to one of the greatest rock bands to climb out of the New York jungle in the 80's.
A little F.Y.I.-- White Lion's famous rhythm section of Lomenzo and D'Angelo do not play on this cd. Staten Island local Nicky Capozzi plays drums and Felix Robinson, from the band Angel, plays bass.
Electra records signed the band, but refused to put out the album because it was too hard and heavy for the softer image they wanted them to have.

Formed in November 1982 by ex-Dreamer guitarist Vito Bratta and Mabel and Studs vocalist Mike Tramp, White Lion released their debut album Fight To Survive in 1984 in Germany. The band went through several line-up changes until they were fully established. First, bassist Felix Robinson was replaced by Dave Spitz (Americade) and drummer Nicky Capozzi by former Anthrax drummer Greg D'Angelo. It is bassist Dave Spitz that appeared in the band's first video "Broken Heart" before he went to join Heavy Metal legends Black Sabbath. Enter James Lomenzo (ex-Rondinelli) to fill in his shoes and the final line-up of White Lion was completed. The album got released in Japan through Victor Records and was highly successful. Shortly after the band landed a part in the Tom Hanks movie "The Money Pit" but this didn't really bring them in the spotlight like they had hoped. In addition to this their American label Elektra dropped them out of the blue and all of a sudden here was a band that had no contract and support Stateside. Unfortunately it would take over 3 years till they could break in the USA with their multi-platinum record Pride in 1987.

Fight To Survive was produced by German producer Peter Hauke who was originally also supposed to produce Pride and Big Game but somehow producer Michael Wagener handled the duties on the band's later releases. Because of the difference of producers and the mix, FTS sounds rather raw and heavy. Very heavy and in your face kind of 80's metal with crushing riffs from Vito Bratta and thoughtful lyrics from Mike Tramp. With the exception of perhaps only two songs ("Where Do We Run" and "Kid of 1,000 Faces") this is a typical heavy metal album . To this day I still run into people that loved White Lion on their debut effort and gradually lost interest after their follow-up Pride. I think I can see where they are coming from. Fight To Survive is melodic, heavy, dark... simply an album of protest. The duo's first ever song "Broken Heart" opens the album and it progresses with the heavy rockers "All The Fallen Men", "El Salvador", "In The City" and closes with the killer ballad "The Road To Valhalla". Vito's naive yet emotional guitar playing shines on this one. Both Vito and Mike were only 22 when they recorded their debut in White Lion.

It is a shame that even after White Lion got gold, their fans had great difficulty locating this album for years. It wasn't until 1992 when Music For Nations finally made it available and released it worldwide. If you like melodic heavy metal from the 80's, it should be in your best interest to check Fight To Survive out. It is definitely much better than the majority of the other debut albums of any band out there.

It's a shame that White Lion's debut album is so hard to find, because it may well be their best release. Fight to Survive didn't make much of a splash when it was released in 1984. It wasn't until 3 years later that their second album, Pride, brought them the attention they deserved.

Fight to Survive is a solid album and a great example of the kind of melodic hard rock/heavy metal that was so powerful in the mid to late 1980's. It features the single Broken Heart, which was re-recorded for White Lion's final album Mane Attraction. Broken Heart is probably my favorite White Lion song. Other standout tracks include the title track and El Salvador. Singer Mike Tramp and guitarist Vito Bratta worked quite well together on this album, and managed to record some very melodic songs with great guitar hooks and smart lyrics. Like later releases, which always had at least one song that just didn't seem to fit (Dirty Woman from Big Game is a good example); Fight to Survive's only dud is the song Kid of 1000 Faces. That one song aside, I give White Lion's debut album a very high rating.

This is a must-have album for all White Lion fans, as well as fans of the whole 80's hard rock/hair metal scene. It's one of those albums that totally captures the spirit of that era.

NOTE: For the longest time, the only way to get this great album was to buy an expensive Japanese import. Fortunately Fight to Survive was reissued by AOR Heaven in 2005. This is good enough news all by itself, but the best news is that the album was digitally remastered under the supervision of Mike Tramp himself. After hearing both the old and new releases, I can tell you the difference in sound quality is very noticeable. The reissue also features 7 bonus live tracks. They're a nice enough addition I suppose, but they're not all from the Fight to Survive era (only two songs are from this album), so I can't really see how it made sense to include them here. Still, the remastering alone makes the reissue a more than worthwhile purchase, especially for those who may have missed the album the first time around.

This is the debut album by renowned American glam metal band "White Lion". Originally released in 1984 the recording process of this album was financed by "Electra Records", a company which at the time had one power seller under the name of "Motley Crue". However just when the album was completed "Electra" dropped the band replacing them with an up and coming quartet known as "Dokken". Never the less "JVC" showed great interest in White Lion and the album was released in Japan.
Musically this album goes way beyond the glam metal sound of its successor "Pride". This is hard rock or classic metal as some would like to refer to; No "hair metal" hits here, rather solid rock hymns. Mike Tramp's music pays a tribute to the modern urban life with songs such as "In the City" and the title track. In addition, tunes such as "Cherokee" and "All the fallen men" stand as homage to the predecessors and heroes of the American nation.

Nothing glamorous, nothing pretentious here; overall a very dark, often mid tempo album whose choruses deliver the pain, agony and self examination of the average modern citizen.
Weather you prefer "poser rock" or straight forward "heavy metal" you can invest confidently on this release; this could possibly be the most substantial American hard rock album of the 80s.

It is quite ironic the least successful release in White Lion's multi-platinum history stands out as their most diachronic and inspirational album.

The year was 1985, heavy metal was on a major up-swing, and many, many bands came out of the woodwork to get a piece of the pie. One of the bands that truly added something new and vibrant to the metal scene was White Lion. Led by Mike Tramp's melodious and gritty, pretty-boy-street-kid vocals and Vito Bratta's amazingly talented, virtuoso guitar wizardry, White Lion came on fast and rose to popularity quickly. They were young and spoke to a youthful crowd but also had a heavy stock of mature songs that were focused on everything from love to war to social problems and they even proved ahead of their time by giving credence to the Germanic and Norse myth-ethos that has now turned into a major musical genre all its own. Every pre- and post-adolescent kid really into the metal scene rocked to the title song and whole-heartedly bought into the guts and glory of fighting to survive (even if it was only through the hallways of your local middle school). Today this album still carries its weight muscle-bound. Songs like "Fight to Survive," "All the Fallen Men," "All Burn in Hell," and "El Salvador" stand up to any of the biggest bands' hardcore hits. What I especially appreciate about this cd is the fact that there's not one throwaway song on it. Vito Bratta has frills and sidebars and fret-fireworks in every single song. His opening trills on "Fight to Survive" and his Spanish guitar intro to "El Salvador" make metal shredders go nuts every time they hear them, whether for the first or hundredth time. The two ballads ("In the City" and "The Road to Valhalla") are hard rock worthy, close to epic. The other pop-metal songs ("Cherokee," "Where Do We Run," and "Kid of 1000 Faces") probably don't deserve to be called such since they're honed to such a sharp edge. Although Hauke's production (probably admittedly with limited funds) caused the band to always desire re-recording (a much better sound quality for three of these songs can be found on Rhino Records' _White Lion: The Definitive Rock Collection_), the rhythm guitar crunch that came out of it was part of what kept them from sounding like everyone else playing metal at the time. And as camp as it might look now, every kid who saw the seemingly dead metal warrior's body draped over the feet of a statuesque (literally) and brave-sorrowing lion got chills up his spine. Mike Tramp has currently reformed WL, but he's the only original in the band. If you want the best of the best of White Lion, or just some awesome early 80s metal, get this one. And get it now. It's getting harder and harder to find. One thing is for sure: If you're a heavy metal fan and miss this one, you've let a gem fall from your grasp.

I came across this album many a year ago, and was surprised by the level of songwriting of such a young band. The songs are diverse for a big 80's hard rock band. The production value is poor however. This may be a deterant if you like a big, clean sound quality.....but the songs are strong enough to compensate if your a fan of the "White Lion" sound already. The price is steep, but if you like their style, then this a good one to get. The magic of a bands earliest material is rarely captured again. Vito Bratta's fret work is exceptional as always, so that may be reason enough to check this one out. Dont expect a "Pride" here, the were a bit heavier and no quite as polished on this one. A worthy effort non the less.

White Lion may be known for "Wait" and "When the Children Cry", but this is *the* album to find. For a debut albumm, the songs are raw and heavy with crazy riffs and hooks and good lyrics to boot. This album is out of print, but with a little digging, you'll find it and love it a lot! I love all the songs, but the ones that are on repeat are Broken Heart, Fight To Survive, and All Burn In Hell.

I used to have the tape and it was difficult to find this CD in France.
Thanks to Amazon and Sellers ! And to their quick sending.
Best regards

I think that this is an excellent album by the band to have in your collection,I'm a very big fan of the band from there beginning all the songs really sound cool on this CD,it's a great heavy metal album.

The manager said that this cd was too heavy?? what a excuse and waste of time for white lion keep this cd in the vault for years. This is a classic white lion cd, if you don't have it...you are not a metal head