Whitecross has returned once again with their third installment titled Triumphant Return. As mentioned before, Whitecross has often been referred to as the Christian version of RATT mixed with Guns N'Roses and it definitely shows on this release.

The first four songs, "Attention Please," "Red Light," "Straight Through The Heart," and "Down" are very straight forward 1980s metal songs that will definitely please anyone who loves Christian metal. However, Whitecross has a long history of producing great rock anthems mixed with very poorly written ballads that should have never made the album. "Behold" and "Simple Man" would sound great for someone like Micheal W. Smith with his early work, but not for a heavy metal band like Whitecross. You would think that Rex Carroll and Scott Wenzel would learn by now that love ballads need to go.

With all of that aside, there are other great tunes on this release such as "Shakedown," "Over The Top," and Rex Carroll entertaining us once again with his renowned guitar solos on the instrumental track "Flashpoint." Whitecross is definitely sounding a lot more professional here, but the band needed to learn to work a little harder if they wanted to continue creating "Christian" ballads. Triumphant Return is for any die-hard fan of Whitecross as well as for any fan of 1980's Christian metal such as Stryper, and Petra.

- Review date: 7/2/08, written by Fred Keel of Jesusfreakhideout.com