I was never that much of a White Lion fan back in their heyday, liking a few tracks but overall they were a band I could pretty much take or leave.  It was therefore always going to quite interesting to hear what this “comeback” album would sound like given the length of time that has passed, some 16 years in fact, since the last studio effort. In that time, the various band members have gone their separate ways, leaving only mainman Mike Tramp from the original line up. 

Return Of The Pride album certainly starts in epic style with the near 9-minute opening track Sangre De Cristo, a song which bears all of the old trademark Tramp vocal style and, like many of the tracks here, has traces of old-style White Lion but overall it is more in keeping with Tramp’s post-White Lion material, both as a solo artist and from his time with Freak Of Nature. For me this is a good thing as I think the combination of styles makes for a really varied and interesting album with a great mixture of song styles. 

Lyrically, White Lion were always quite a different, and perhaps more thought-provoking band, than many of their contemporaries and time hasn’t diminished this aspect of Tramp’s work at all. Highlights of the album would include Dream, Set Me Free, I Will and the epic Battle At Little Big Horn, whilst the ballad Never Let You Go is an excellent foil for the more up-tempo rockers on the album.

Overall Return Of The Pride is much better than anything that could have been expected, not having been much of a fan previously, it's enjoyable from start to finish. The band are over in the UK for some live dates soon and I would certainly recommend getting yourself along to one of their shows on the strength of this release, let alone the quality of their back catalogue with which you are probably already familiar.

Paul Williams