WARRANT - Born Again

Posted: 8/9/06

Reviewed by: Dirt

Category: Hard Rock

Released: 2006

Label URL: www.cleorecs.com

Artist URL: www.warrantweb.net

Warrant is back and born again!  The lineup now consists of original members Joey Allen (lead guitar), Erik Turner (rhythm guitar), Jerry Dixon (bass), and Steven Sweet (drums).  If you haven't followed the Warrant saga over the years, this album marks the return of Allen and Sweet, both of which left the group after its heyday.  It also finds former Black 'N' Blue vocalist Jaime St. James taking over Janie Lane's vocal duties.

It's no secret that Warrant mistakenly jumped on the contemporary/modern bandwagon when they released Ultraphobic and Belly To Belly, Vol. 1 (thank God there wasn't a Volume 2) back in the 90s.  If those excursions have scared you away from the band and this new release, you'll need to reconsider because Born Again finds the band back doing what they do best.  Born Again is a straight-ahead hard rock album with riffs, power chords, and melodic good-time choruses.  While the opening track "Devil's Juice" has a slightly modern edge too it, it's not representative of the rest of the album.  Tracks like the hook filled rocker "Roller Coaster" and the foot-tappin' "Dirty Jack" are more in line with what this release is about.  Although the "Devil's Juice" theme is represented on the album cover art, I think it should have been a mid-album cut and not a lead-off track, but that's splitting hairs when you consider the quality of what the band has done here overall.  Born Again is instrumentally heavy, with only one fluffy ballad ("Glimmer"), so it finds the band far away from "Cherry Pie" (Thank God!), but vocally St. James has captured the essence of what Lane brought to Warrant and what he himself brought to the criminally undervalued Black N' Blue ("Autoblast"!!!!!!!!)

The Bloody Truth:  While there has been a lineup change and a key one at that, Warrant comes off stronger than its been in years.  Certainly, this album would never have come about if Janie was in the band, not because he can't write and sing but because I don't believe true hard rock is in his heart.  Warrant has worked hard to resurrect themselves and have a new product that proves that they don't have to just be some sort of trip down memory lane that is limited to "Down Boys" and "Cherry Pie."  Now, it's time for the fans to give them the shot that they deserve to take Born Again to the level of success that it deserves.