GREAT WHITE — Mark Kendall (lead guitar), Scott Snyder (bass), Audie Desbrow (drums), Michael Lardie (guitar, keyboards) and Terry Ilous (lead vocals) — will release its new studio album, "Elation", in Europe, Japan and USA on May 18. The 12-song CD will mark GREAT WHITE's first effort with Ilous following the band's split with founding singer Jack Russell. In addition, GREAT WHITE's 30th-anniversary show at the Key Club in Hollywood, California on March 22 will be professionally filmed and recorded for an upcoming live album and concert DVD.

Stated Kendall: "We are extremely excited about our new studio album and are looking forward to sharing our new music with you all."

The cover artwork for "Elation" can be found below.

This version of GREAT WHITE is not to be confused with JACK RUSSELL'S GREAT WHITE, which features Russell alongside Robby Lochner (FIGHT) on guitar, Matthew Johnson (DOCTOR M, JACK RUSSELL) on guitar, Dario Seixas (FIREHOUSE, STEPHEN PEARCY) on bass and Derrick Pontier (GREAT WHITE, SAMANTHA 7) on drums.

Kendall, Snyder, Desbrow, Lardie and Ilous issued a statement in December in which they claimed that Jack Russell's "frail body" and "drug abuse" prohibited him from taking part in the band's performances for the past year. They additionally revealed that Jack had undergone "five major surgeries" after his drug abuse got so bad that "his body began to shut down and ultimately resulted in colostomy surgery from a perforated bowel." In the statement, GREAT WHITE also insisted that Russell "does not have the right to start his own GREAT WHITE or use the name without our names in the lineup."