Formed in 1979 in Virginia, WHITE BOY AND AVERAGE RAT BAND were amoung a new breed of artists creating hard-hitting DIY 'Proto-metal' and in 1980 released their self-titled 8-track album limited to only 300 copies which would eventually fade into obscurity, only to eventually be picked up by collectors and traded across different stores and music dealers everywhere. So when founding member Mike Matney decided to jump-start the band once again, he thought what better way to treat the loyal old school fans, and a potential new younger audience, than to re-release the album on popular modern formats CD and Vinyl, remastered from the original tapes, with a further 5 previously unreleased bonus tracks for the CD version making this a 13-track Rock 'n' Roll mammoth of a record!

I went into WHITE BOY AND AVERAGE RAT BAND completely unaware of their history or sound so this to me was like listening to a brand new album, and after the synth-heavy ambient and uplifting intro "Prelude", "Neon Warriors" kicks in with a monster drum intro from Jerry 'Hog' Hogeston with a very raw and old-school sound which hooked me immediatley and was actually a surprising twist after the previous track, following the thunderous drums comes a raw and choppy guitar riff not unlike the early albums of one of my favourite bands; JUDAS PRIEST followed by a very early BLACK SABBATH vocal delivery from the very talented Mike Matney. Track 3 "Sector 387" has a much more laid back feel to it with a very infectious groove to it, I got a lot of THIN LIZZY vibes from this track which you don't seem to hear too often anymore which was a real treat. The real stand out tracks for me had to be the bonus tracks, aswell as having a slightly higher quality of production, the choruses and hooks stuck with me more than the original album tracks and they all have very distinct and almost experimental qualities about them.

"Tell Someone" is very uplifting and almost similar to how an 80's Rock Power Ballad would sound and you find yourself uncontrollably singing along to the chorus, and then you have a song like "Will to Fight Master" which sounds like it was pulled straight out of JUDAS PRIEST's 1984 album "Defenders of the Faith", taking into account that these songs were written in 1979 and 1980, they are half a decade ahead of their time! "Smokehouse Blues" is a straight up Blues Rock song and fits very nicely amongst the fast paced Heavier songs and breaks up the flow of the album pleasently! For me, "White Boy and Average Rat Band" is a great album full of nostalgic metal traits, tipping hats to the likes of Heavy Metal Titans JUDAS PRIEST, MOTORHEAD and BLACK SABBATH as well as an even earlier Rock 'n' Roll sound which any fan of old-school raw Metal should definitely pick up, and being limited to only 500 CD's and 500 Vinyl Records, you'll want to get your wallets out quickly and grab your copy, you'll find yourself playing this over and over, craving their addictively punchy riffs and anthemic choruses!