White Reaper : Only Slightly Empty
They say nostalgia moves in a 30-year cycle. Assuming that’s true, it would put the current point of cultural adoration at about 1995-ish. With that in mind, what evidence have we to support this claim? Well, something like the meteoric resurgence of one of the decade’s most popular rock acts would certainly be sufficient, and, lo and behold, 2025 has borne witness to literally exactly that. Looks like there’s some truth to it, then. Ticketmaster should be pleased.
But it’s not only the Gallagher brothers who have figured out that this approach—for the time being—is a winning formula. White Reaper’s fifth record, Only Slightly Empty, leans heavily and unashamedly into a host of ’90s and ’00s pop-rock sounds and styles. It’s a collection of 10 tracks that all adhere rather strongly to an intransigent songwriting manifesto: make your melodies huge and bounding; make your power chords firm and thunderous; make your percussion irresistibly crushing and lively. It doesn’t have to be complicated—it just has to rock hard.
The record’s laser-sighted focus is the source of both its successes and shortcomings. If, like me, you grew up blasting the likes of Green Day and the Foo Fighters, there’s nothing you’ll find in Only Slightly Empty that you’ll really object to, and an awful lot that’ll inspire you to joyfully reapply your frosted tips and multiple studded belts on top of each other. And there’s still a lot to love about its crashing, wall-of-sound guitars, lively, thudding drums, and the throaty, adolescent whine of vocalist Tony Esposito even if you weren’t weaned on such a musical diet. Opener “Coma,” for example, is one of the best tracks on the album, and quite ironically named, since it’s such a riotous bolt of headbanging energy that it would really be the perfect tool to break you out of one. The chorus of “Rubber Cement” is a perfectly cheesy, perfectly chantable work of alt-rock art, and the jagged, swaggering riff that cuts through “Eraser” is mean, stylish and fuzzy in all the coolest ways.
But there’s also the feeling that the band have walled themselves in a little bit. In amongst all the anthemic, singalong, mid-tempo choruses, most of which are plenty catchy and charismatic enough to please a baying stadium or two—there’s not much of an indication that the band have any interest in expanding their (or their listener’s) horizons beyond their tuneful, chunky brand of turn-of-the-century alt-rock. The result is a pretty obvious one; if you stick too closely to a formula, your output will become formulaic. That’s not intended as a slight on the band’s songcraft in and of itself. In a way, it’s quite the reverse; power-pop-punk is a genre rife with copycats, and so it’s startling just how electric, how vibrant, and how downright fun they’re able to make it all sound, even decades after mainstream demand for such a sound has evaporated.
Label: Blue Grape
Year: 2025
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White Reaper : Only Slightly Empty
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