Whitesnake
Forevermore

(In the distant November 2011, I began to draft this review, never finished and never published, so I decided to bring it out and tweak it a bit, enjoy it!)

Talking about a new album by Whitesnake, as if it were still 1987 or 1989, may certainly seem a bit surreal, but the truth is right before our eyes now: the great dinosaurs of hard rock, still in enviable shape, return with a new album that is pure dynamite for any debut band. David Coverdale reaches the threshold of sixty with a new album with the emblematic title of "Forevermore", his apple pie recipe that the master has thawed from the '80s. An extremely well-tested band, with a deadly guitar duo like Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach, ready to rekindle the glories of the best moments of the White Snake. However, the album doesn't present anything new in terms of sound; it's still that dear hard&heavy tinged with blues that the group has proposed to us since 1984.

But it also carries with it the flaws of the previous "Good To Be Bad"; a pumped-up production, often over the top, compressed, and lacking in dynamics, which stifles some tracks like "Easier Said Than Done" and "Tell Me How". The initial track "Steal Your Heart Away" alone is worth all the money spent to buy the album, a powerful anthem halfway between "Slow An' Easy" and the sound of "Lovehunter", heralded by a piercing and dirty harmonica. Although Coverdale still shows some vocal problems, issues that have plagued him for over thirty years, he proves (at least in the studio) capable of delivering a gritty heavy blues voice. This is demonstrated by those injections of energy in the form of scorching showcases like "All Out Of Luck" and "Love Will Set You Free", which, despite the title, is perhaps the most streetwise and slimy track on the entire album. A vigorous piece also emerges in the album that adopts more of the American classic rock standards, "I Need You (Shine A Light)", which, just like "Love Will Set You Free", has a powerful, very radio-friendly chorus. As the first ballad of the album, "Easier Said Than Done" didn't make a great impression, decidedly uninspired and at times banal, although easily listenable. To lift the fortunes, a semi-acoustic track like "One Of These Days" was needed, where David's warm voice takes center stage, a track worthy of the great hits of the band like "Is This Love". The trio "Love & Treat Me Right/Dogs In The Street/My Evil Ways" is, on the other hand, a fitting mix and pure hard rock road magic, where the band unleashes all its aggression, with everyone giving their best, along with sensual melodies and great taste in arrangements.

It seems incredible how a band from the '80s (albeit born at the end of the '70s) manages to replicate itself at these fantastic levels. Maybe it's just a coincidence, or maybe not? In any case, the album closes with the title track, the masterpiece of intensity, split between the acoustic and emotional initial part and the somewhat more energetic yet always pathos-laden midsection, inevitably fading away at the end. A clear and determined testament to a band in excellent health and with no intention of stepping aside from the current music scene. To infinity and beyond, forevermore indeed!

SCORE = 80 / 100