RockStarWeekly.com has issued the following report from Avril Savoie:

For more than 25 years, GREAT WHITE has distanced themselves from their peers by refusing to put style ahead of substance. They do it again on Rising, their second studio album of the new millennium, and a compelling musical statement that blends blues-hued roots with an innate sense of rhythm and melody.

It’s called rock and roll, and Great White still deliver it with every bit of the grit, texture, swagger and soul that has defined their sound since their rise to prominence in the late-‘80s. With their worldwide album sales approaching the ten million mark, Rising (the band’s second release on Shrapnel Records in North America, and first for Frontiers Records in Europe) marks a return to form for Great White – It may be their eleventh studio album, but it is also their first album in more than a decade that was written and recorded together as a band.

“The big difference between this record and the last one we did, was that on the last album we were scattered all over the place when we were talking about getting the band back together,” says guitarist Mark Kendall of the recording process for Back to the Rhythm, which was released in the summer of 2007. “I lived in Utah, Michael was in Phoenix, Jack was in California, and we ended up emailing music to each other. We didn’t rehearse and we never got together, it was weird, it didn’t have that band feel. The vibe wasn’t there, it was missing something…”

While Back to the Rhythm was technically Great White’s reunion record, it is Rising that truly saw the band reunited in the studio, where, for the first time in more than a decade, they gathered together to write, rehearse and record the next chapter in their storied career.

“In the past we’d spend weeks and weeks of pre-production and rehearsals, and by the time we would record the songs, they’d sound stale to us,” recalls front-man Jack Russell of the band’s earlier efforts. “For this album, we just went in and banged a song out, learned it, laid it down, and if we liked it, we kept it. It was a lot more spontaneous and fresh, and I think you can hear that on the record.”

“Personally, I’ve always wanted to go into the studio with a few songs ready, but not all of them finished,” says Michael Lardie, who in addition to playing guitar, also produced and mixed Rising. “We actually got to do that this time. We went in with a framework, but were creating from the time we went in the studio, to the time I was ready to start mixing. There’s an organic value to the record. We recorded at Audie’s house, and we’d talk about ideas we had and the next morning we’d make the song. It was a continuous flow. It was a lot more work for me, putting in 16 hour days at a breakneck pace just to keep up with everything, but it was so exciting to be so involved and entrenched in a record like that. It reminded me of when Mark and I were involved in the overdubs for Once Bitten… back in ’87.”

While longtime fans of Great White will find the band basking in plenty of familiar water throughout Rising – opening track 'Situation' is signature Great White, and the jazzy swagger of 'Down On The Level' might remind more than a few die-hards of 'Mista Bone' – they’ll also appreciate the new depths the album explores. A Southern sprawl of Gospel blues permeates 'My Sanctuary' (the first Great White song to include harmonica since their classic hit 'Rock Me'), an R&B keyboard bounce drives 'Is it Enough', 'Danger Zone' is a drum-driven series of sonic booms, and Russell’s vocals demonstrate a range throughout that he’s hardly hinted at with past recordings.

“It was definitely our intention to show a few different sides of Great White,” continues Lardie. “It’s funny for me to think that people don’t know the variance in Jack’s vocals. He grew up on THE BEATLES and, if anything, he should have been a pop singer based on what he cut his teeth on. It wasn’t until later that he discovered the ROLLING STONES, AEROSMITH and LED ZEPPELIN, and that’s where he really found his niche. But he’s always had a pop sensibility, he’s definitely got it in him, and I’m glad we were able to bring it out and show that aspect of him as a singer.”

Read more and listen to the audio interview at RockStarWeekly.com.