With the commercial and artistic success of their precedent opus "Serenade" in 2011, the expectations were quite high yet excessive, this is the double edged sword of success, since the skilled Australians of WHITE WIDDOW had received some ultra positive feedback from the specialized press worldwide, the AOR fanatics and even the purist connoisseurs have blown their best qualifiers to praise their sophomore "Serenade", and indeed this album was full of sheer quality! Unluckily fate was ruthless and tragedy strikes in 2013 with notably the unfortunate death of drummer George Kristy and the resignation of original bass player Trent Wilson.

So now WHITE WIDDOW is back with quite possibly their best album so far, regrouped with a rejuvenated new line up the quintet should face its destiny and finally after much hassles, the third album "Crossfire" will be published in late November! The Millis brothers, Jules (Lead Singer) & Xavier (Keyboards) are still gifted songwriters and the numerous supporters of the early albums will be at home with this new effort, a superb collection of songs clearly set in the same spirit of the golden era filled with addictive hook and radio-friendly anthems but even enhanced by a sharp edge in the guitar riffs ("Caught In The Crossfire").

This is pure AOR and keyboards heaven ("Just Another Night" or "Dreams Don't Die"), even if the sound is slightly more powerful than it used to be, the big harmonized backing vocals ("Never Again") and the wall of synths ("Fly Me Away") are still present in the great 80's fashion ("Too Many Tears") while the icing on the cake is the magnificent, gratifying and flashy method in the lead guitar spots by virtuoso Enzo Almanzi ("Angel"/ "Below The Belt").

Luckily they cleverly avoid the trap of the easy listening and parody/clichés driven songs, maybe if some tricks are very familiar ("Born To Be A Rebel"), the whole disc is exciting and exultant and makes you proud to be as Nostagic as you are! The sonic side is also in the premium category, the production task by Xavier Millis sounds like a million bucks, and finally it seems that fighting all those misfortunes turned WHITE WIDDOW into an even stronger entity and I can proudly state that "Crossfire" is one of the best Vintage AOR album since ages!

A signal of hope to the survivors and the unruly children...A new icon born as a prophet under the open skies of fate.