Customer Reviews

Inside

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

 

 

Starting with "Freedom" in 1989, Whiteheart began sowing its hard rock oats. "Powerhouse", "Tales of Wonder", and "Highlands" all featured heavier cuts, but "Inside" demonstrated an edge unsurpassed by any previous or following Whiteheart CD's. Unfortunately, it was not well received by the critics who felt the band had taken a couple of steps backward. The band itself, with the exception of co-founding member Billy Smiley, did not feel too optimistic about "Inside" either. All of this cynicism is sad because this CD actually turned out to be a good one.

Sounding vaguely like 70's metal (Deep Purple, Aerosmith, etc.), "Inside" erupts with the title track and rocks right into "You Can't Take What You Don't Have" before mellowing out with "It Could Have Been You" (the first of two acoustic songs). "Come One Come All" has an interesting pop flavor too it, but "Ritual", "Living Sacrifice", and "Dominate" return us back to the rock. "Even the Hardest Heart" is a really nice acoustic-based song that sounds like a sing-a-long around the campfire kind of tune. "Speak Softy" is an anguishing prayer with Mark Gersmehl singing the lead. The haunting "Find A Way" finishes the album.

By far this is the darkest of Whiteheart efforts, but it is not hopeless. Whenever introspection occurs, it often reveals the darkness inside us all and how badly we need Light.

More aggressive guitar work and a greater attention to the rhythm section stand out in the recording. The vocals almost disappear at times beneath the crush of the rock, but this CD really sounds good a high volumes. The title cut and "Even the Hardest Heart" are two of the best Whiteheart songs ever.

For those of you familiar with Whiteheart over the years, you will find that Inside is quite a change from their norm. The beat is faster, the guitars are heavier, and the lyrics have more of an edge. You will not get the same "feel-good" vibe that most of their albums portray, but you will get an earful of solid rock that at the same time lifts up the name of Jesus Christ.

Whoever was responsible for the sound production engineering on this album.... got it half-right. For some reason, there are about 4 songs that are potentially great songs, but they are difficult to listen to if you care about sound production technique. In that sense I was disappointed in the final end product, because they are GOOD songs! If you are like me in this regard, check out 'Redemption' - they fixed the problem in 1997.

This is a little harder sound than some of the group's other projects, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.Rick Florian is great, as usual.The CD starts with the powerful "Inside", and keeps going from there.Give it a listen, and I think you will enjoy this CD!!

It doesn't get much better than "Find A Way"; and the rest of the songs are almost as good, especially: "You Can't Take What You Don't Have", "Even The Hardest Heart", and "Come One, Come All". In other words: another great album from (arguably) the best Christian Rock Band of them all!!!

I must agree with two of the previous reviewers, Brent's reviews of the songs and Mark's comments about the production. I can't add too much new to this, except that as a hard rock lover, both Christian and secular, that I appreciate this album more and more as time goes on. My personal favorites are Inside, Come One Come All, Dominate and Find A Way. I love the diversity that the band shows throughout this album. Let this CD grow on you and you'll see the beauty of it and enjoy one of the greatest Christian rock bands ever! They even sound more 90s-like on their next album: Redemption.

I have heard loads of people say that this album is a wane of Whiteheart. I have also seen people who say this album has no good production on it at all. Well, if you ask me I think these people are wrong! I feel this album is a great one! The brand of rock I feel is some of Whiteheart's best actusally! And the ballads are great and actually sound a little different with a more modern sound than the previous albums. Even surpasses "Powerhouse" in this department I feel! There are some excellent songs like "Come One Come All" and "Dominate" and I also feel this album has a powerful edge to the lyrics that have spoken to me more than most of the bands earlier stuff! This album is wildly underknown and underpraised and underreviewed too! GREAT SCORCHER FOR ME!