MAD MAX – White Sands

Here is the latest studio release from German Melodic Hard Rock outfit with a Christian touch, Mad Max. White Sands is the follow-up album to their acclaimed 2006 predecessor Night Of White Rock; a release that was followed by massive touring efforts with Classic Rock legends Deep Purple and Alice Cooper. Appreciative to many fans of Mad Max, the band’s original line-up is back again on White Sands as seen on their previous album, consisting of Michael Voss (Silver, Casanova) on vocals, Axel Kruse (Jaded Heart) on drums, Juergen Breforth on guitars, and Roland Bergmann on bass. The band’s songwriting team, Michael Voss (music) and Juergen Breforth (lyrics), managed to find some inspiration at Spain’s secluded island Mallorca, where they wrote all 10 songs that made it onto this album.

Unfortunately, the opening track “Family Of Rock” quickly disappoints with its cliché guitar riffs, weak vocal melodies, and somewhat lame drums. This is followed by “Little Princess,” which has a chorus that best would be described as Bon Jovi meets Casanova. “Lluvia” is a short instrumental filler track that does not exactly contribute much to White Sands as an album. Other tracks like “Glorious Night” or “Too Wrong,” whose choruses strongly remind of Michael Sweet and Stryper, reveal yet again that White Sands is overall too heavily shaped by the band’s major influences like Bon Jovi, Stryper, and Scorpions without successfully adding a strong dose of the band’s own style and originality to most of the songs.

It is pretty hard to pinpoint several highlights easily on this album, as there is nothing that has not been done a million times before. “Heaven Is …,” however, certainly can be considered a nice Melodic Rock Ballad track, and at least sounds honest and believable. “Someone Like You” is another one of the better tracks on White Sands, which is well-written and delivers some rocking guitars, occasionally. What is a bit of a mystery is that there are not more high quality choruses. With a vocalist of the caliber of Michael Voss, who is blessed with a great Rock voice, there is undoubtedly room for more. ”Change It” just proves that the potential is certainly there in this regard, as it has an impressive chorus, but on the other hand, lacks many other compositional highlights, resulting in an overall average song.

Overall White Sands is simply an average album that might serve diehard fans of Mad Max well, but it will most likely not manage to convince many new fans. On today’s over-saturated market and in a genre that is already loaded with bands that fail to provide new, fresh, and rocking material, there is an urgent need for albums with much more punch, energy, and most importantly, conviction, especially if a band wants to even conquer the hearts of this genre’s most loyal fans.

Lineup

Michael Voss – Vocals
Juergen Breforth – Guitars
Roland Bergmann – Bass
Axel Kruse – Drums