Warrant
Louder Harder Faster
Frontiers Music Srl
2017
Warrant were both extremely lucky and unlucky at the same time, when they made it with a guy like Jani Lane as he’s credited with having written some of their biggest hits during their heyday… they did drift apart after a string of albums that failed to match their early success and while grunge was really laying most of the 80s and 90s hard rock bands to waste, despite trying to adapt for a couple of album in the mid-90s.
Despite their best efforts to get back with the alcohol and drugs troubled frontman, the band cut an album with former Black n Blue singer Jaime St.James, before another failed attempt to reviving the original band, in a short lived reunion of the original lineup that only lasted a few shows and was completed only when Robert Mason (ex-Lynch Mob) stepped in to take over the vocals department. He allegedly did a good enough job, to be given permanent membership.
An album “Rockaholic” was produced with him on vocals, before Jani died, and “Louder Harder Faster” is the first one to be released after his passing, keeping things “the same”, which is a little surprising, given the many lineup shuffles in the previous decades. Stylistically, the album covers a lot of what the band was all about, with its nasty out and out hairy rock n roll, sounding typical. The “brilliance” that catapulted the band to multiplatinum stardom is nowhere to be found, but the dirty riffs and streetwise charm are still there on songs like “Devil Dancer”, the strip tale of “Only Broken Heart” that’s oh so typical with it’s very poignant riffola.
“U in My Life” tries hard to match prime-era Warrant, when it comes to a ballad, but unfortunately falls a bit short. “New Rebellion” tries to be a balls out rocker with a modern slant, but also it falls a bit short of being characterized a modern day classic with maybe the naughty “Big Sandy” and the free spirited “Let It Go” faring a bit better. There’s also a cover of Merle Haggard’s country classic “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” offered as a bonus, which stays rather faithful to the original, but given the whole havoc that drinking problems caused the late JL, I’m not sure if I think it’s inclusion is in good taste.
Overall, a fair attempt that rocks, but doesn’t manage to quite match the band’s heyday material. It’s probably even a step down from “Rockaholic”, feeling a little less consistent and less spirited overall.
Despite their best efforts to get back with the alcohol and drugs troubled frontman, the band cut an album with former Black n Blue singer Jaime St.James, before another failed attempt to reviving the original band, in a short lived reunion of the original lineup that only lasted a few shows and was completed only when Robert Mason (ex-Lynch Mob) stepped in to take over the vocals department. He allegedly did a good enough job, to be given permanent membership.
An album “Rockaholic” was produced with him on vocals, before Jani died, and “Louder Harder Faster” is the first one to be released after his passing, keeping things “the same”, which is a little surprising, given the many lineup shuffles in the previous decades. Stylistically, the album covers a lot of what the band was all about, with its nasty out and out hairy rock n roll, sounding typical. The “brilliance” that catapulted the band to multiplatinum stardom is nowhere to be found, but the dirty riffs and streetwise charm are still there on songs like “Devil Dancer”, the strip tale of “Only Broken Heart” that’s oh so typical with it’s very poignant riffola.
“U in My Life” tries hard to match prime-era Warrant, when it comes to a ballad, but unfortunately falls a bit short. “New Rebellion” tries to be a balls out rocker with a modern slant, but also it falls a bit short of being characterized a modern day classic with maybe the naughty “Big Sandy” and the free spirited “Let It Go” faring a bit better. There’s also a cover of Merle Haggard’s country classic “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” offered as a bonus, which stays rather faithful to the original, but given the whole havoc that drinking problems caused the late JL, I’m not sure if I think it’s inclusion is in good taste.
Overall, a fair attempt that rocks, but doesn’t manage to quite match the band’s heyday material. It’s probably even a step down from “Rockaholic”, feeling a little less consistent and less spirited overall.