War Machine

By Katie Whitman

White Rose’s first CD, War Machine, is an album with a message, with a mission.  The lyrics are latent with the themes – be aware, question authority, beware of the loss of your freedoms, you are the answer, go out and do something.  There is criticism of self-righteous government officials that view other countries as faceless enemies and make greed-based decisions from the comfort of their offices.  They warn us not to be distracted by the meaningless frills thrown at us by corporations and governments every day.  I am immediately reminded of Orwell’s Big Brother society in 1984 and the theme that “the answer lies in the proles” (i.e. us regular people).

White Rose’s succinct messages are integrated with equally hard-hitting punk rock guitar riffs, precise drumming, and intense scream-singing (or sing-screaming, depending on the song).  The album begins with the self-titled song, White Rose, driven by quick-moving, progressive power chords and an equally driving cry to the listener to “Open your eyes. Wake up! Wake up!”  Now that they’ve got your attention, the rest of the album delivers its message through tempo-changing punk, slower heavy-metalish rock, and some almost poppy-hooky punk complete with hand-clapping.

A couple of songs stand out on this album.  No Flags, No Masters is a potent mix of words and music, beginning with a driving verse shouting “No Flags, No Masters, what are we fighting for?” that melts into a swanky chorus asserting “Colors of hate – destroy/ God is not a flag – Unite.”  The longest song on the album is the punk epic, Who Would Jesus Bomb?, calling out the government for (erroneously) using Christian principles as justification of war: “We are sick of the scandals and the buck is gonna stop with you!/(Criminal, Criminal, You should be on TRIAL!)/ Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s me and all the good people say/ Who would Jesus Bomb?”  Resist Despair is a heavy, yet propulsive song that defies stereotyping-based-on-image proclaiming “I am ‘not nothing’ at all/ I am not who you say I am/ I am more than all of this.”  The uplifting song feels like it’s about to break free at any moment, just like the people it represents.

 White Rose’s War Machine will be available soon.  It is engineered by Eric Helmkamp, cover art by Winston Smith, and filled with intelligent music by White Rose.  What more do you need?  www.MySpace.com/whiterosepunk to get yours.            

Click here to check out the lyrics from War Machine.