WHITE REAPER SHARE NEW SINGLE AHEAD OF FORTHCOMING ALBUM
Copyright: Jimmy Fontaine
White Reaper are back and louder than ever. The Kentucky rockers have announced their forthcoming album, Only Slightly Empty, due out 26 September via their new label, Blue Grape Music. Alongside the announcement, the band has unleashed a blistering new single, ‘Blue 42’ - a track that marks one of the heaviest and most intense moments in their catalog to date.
Only Slightly Empty delivers everything fans have come to love from White Reaper: crunchy guitars, infectious hooks, and a signature swagger, while also exploring darker, grungier sonic terrain. Nowhere is that evolution more apparent than on ‘Blue 42’ - a moody, riff-heavy standout that channels raw emotion through towering distortion and tightly wound energy.
The new single follows the release of ‘Blink; and ‘Honestly’, which drew widespread acclaim from outlets like Stereogum, BrooklynVegan, Alternative Press, and FLOOD, who praised the band’s knack for crafting bright, anthemic earworms. But ‘Blue 42’ flips the script - offering a brooding, heavier side of White Reaper that will have fans headbanging and hitting repeat.
Only Slightly Empty finds White Reaper emerging from a turbulent chapter with their most anthemic and fully realized work to date. Following a stretch marked by label upheaval, creative ruts, lineup shifts, and burnout, the band has re-emerged stronger and sharper, delivering a tightly packed, half-hour burst of pure rock & roll energy.
Self-produced by core members Tony Esposito (vocals/guitar), Ryan Hater (keys), and Hunter Thompson (guitar), and recorded with engineer Joey Oaxaca (Hunny, Mamalarky, Rocket), the album captures the urgency of White Reaper’s early releases while pushing their songwriting into bold new territory.
Drawing from '90s alt-rock grit, moody textures, and darker sonic palettes, Only Slightly Empty never loses sight of the irresistible power-pop heart that defines the band’s sound. The result is a record that feels both expansive and immediate - ambitious in scope, yet unmistakably White Reaper. It’s a confident evolution that finds the band not just surviving the chaos, but thriving in it.
