Hammer & Nail

Whitecross | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 13, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Starsong
• ASIN: B0000288ZX
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,179 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars REX'S GUITAR IS THE HAMMER, SONGS WEREN'T NAILED...(just an honest review from a Whitecross fan), March 24, 2006

By 

H. Detter "Finally" (Herndon, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hammer & Nail (Audio CD)

Whitecross' self titled debut (1987's "Whitecross), musically speaking, can be considered extraordinary. Almost every song is a Christian metal classic. In my opinion, the only keeping it from being an all time great is its poor production. 1988's "Hammer And Nail" cd marked a slight improvement in the production however musically speaking, it isn't nearly as consistent as the debut. That isn't to suggest that this cd is terrible. On the contrary, few of the songs are throwaway and in fact, there are one or two fresh ideas and a couple of excellent songs on this release. "Living On The Edge" qualifies as both a fresh idea and an excellent song. While many metal guitarists have played slide in their leads/solos, to my knowledge, prior to this song no one had used a slide based riff on a heavy metal song. "When The Walls Tumble Down" isn't bad but it's a downgrade from "Living On The Edge". "The Hammer And The Nail" is merely a "good" Rex Carroll guitar solo (obviously styled after Eddie Van Halen's "Cathedral" from the Van Halen's "Diver Down" cd). "Take It To The Limit" is a decent song but other than Rex's incredible lead guitar sound, there's nothing distinctive on which to grab hold. "Walk With Me" is the ballad on the CD and it's fine. Scott Wenzel cleans up his vocals nicely to support the music and message. "Because Of Jesus" is by far the cd's best song and in fact is one of the best in Whitecross' entire catalog. Lyrically and musically, everything on this track works. Both "When The Clock Strikes" and "Resist Him", while not bad when listening to the cd, are forgettable almost immediately after they end. "Living In A Lost World" is pretty good but nothing about it stands out from the rest of the "ok" to "decent" songs. The cd ends nicely with the up tempo song "Top Of The World". While the subject matter of Whitecross songs is serious in nature, the self titled debut is bursting with energy and an atmosphere of the band having a good time. That seems to be missing on this cd. The saving grace of this cd (outside of "Living On The Edge", "Because Of Jesus" and "Top Of The World) is that all of the songs have an excellent to great Rex Carroll guitar solo. So if the songs don't do much for you, all is not lost. Just fast forward to the solos.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christian Metal Classic!!, June 28, 2005

By 

Stuart M. Tysinger "Stryper Fan" (Johnson City, TN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hammer & Nail (Audio CD)

Ahh, the Christian Metal version of Ratt. This cd in my opinion was their best. Rex Carroll (Guitarist) was origianlly with Firece Heart & then formed this band with vocalist (Scott Wenzel). If you do not have this cd in your collection, get it because it is a Christian Metal classic & they are back together again (www.whitecrossmusic.com). Best songs are: Living On The Edge, The Hammer & The Nail (Instrumental) & Living In A Lost World.

4.0 out of 5 stars Hammer and Nail, June 17, 2011

By 

dougbarnes9 "dougbarnes9" (Lake Stevens, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hammer & Nail (Audio CD)

In my humble opinion, there are only 4 great Whitecross CD's - 1987, Hammer and Nail, Triumphant Return and In the Kingdom - Rex Carroll makes EVH look like a school boy. Being a guitarist myself, I see the influence that he had on Rex and Rex took it to the next level - great Christian songs and well thought out phrasing with his lead guitar work. Buy at Amazon.com - the only place you can find Whitecross CD's......