Winger - Karma Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 10.30.2009

Beavis and Butthead's least favorite band is back. Can they bring the noise or are they headed for a heartbreak?


I am a child of the eighties. I grew up with a great love for hair metal and most of my favorite bands are from that genre of music. From here out, all my reviews will be from this type of music because that is what I am most passionate about. The first rock concert I ever went to was in 1988 with Cinderella headlining the show. The reason I went to the show was not to see Cinderella but to see the opening act, a new band called The Bullet Boys. Also opening at that show is the focus of this review: Winger.

Winger is a band that is more notorious than proficient for their work in the eighties. They came in towards the end of the hair band era and only released two albums during the heyday of the genre. Those two albums, Winger and In the Heart of the Young both went platinum with major hits like “Seventeen”, “Headed for a Heartbreak”, “Madalaine”, “Hungry” and “Miles Away.”

The band is not best known because of those songs, though. Winger are icons because Beavis and Butthead targeted them for being “wussies” and their nerdy neighbor Stewart usually wore a Winger t-shirt, making the band the brunt of even more jokes. Kip Winger, the band’s lead vocalist and bass player, was a former member of Alice Cooper’s band before starting off on his own. The front man didn’t help his case any when he responded to Lars Ulrich of Metallica throwing a dart at his poster in the “Nothing Else Matters” video.

“Our band was known to musicians,” Winger said in an interview with 1heavymetal.com, “and a lot of musicians showed up to see me play - watching trying to figure out how I'm playing - we were like the hair band [version of] Dream Theater -- That is why it's the great irony that we ended up on that geeky guy's shirt on Beavis & Butthead, because Metallica couldn't play what we play, they couldn't do it, they literally - technically couldn't do it. And I'll fucking challenge those chumps to that any day of the week, but we could play their music with our hands tied behind our back.”

That seems to be a stretch. Since the band’s first two albums, they released one more and broke up. They then rejoined eight years later for a reunion tour and released their fourth album in Europe five years after that. “Karma” is the band’s fifth album, released twenty-one years after they debuted.

Band Kip Winger - vocals, bass, acoustics, keys Reb Beach – guitars, vocals John Roth – guitars, vocals Rod Morgenstein - Drums

Track list: 1. Deal With The Devil 2. Stone Cold Killer 3. Big World Away 4. Come A Little Closer 5. Pull Me Under 6. Supernova 7. Always Within Me 8. Feeding Frenzy 9. After All This Time 10. Witness

The album opens with a great track called “Deal With the Devil,” a song that would have gotten a ton of airplay in the band’s heyday. The first thing I notice is Kip sounds very different than he did twenty years ago. His voice is most comparable to John Carabi, the former Motley Crue lead singer who, ironically enough, toured with Winger in 2007 while playing guitar for Ratt. The song is fast paced, with great guitar work and Kip sounds fantastic.

The second track is “Stone Cold Killer”, a song plagued with some pretty cheesy lyrics (“First she’ll own your heart and then your soul, now you’re dealing with a stone cold killer, she kills so good your dying for some more”) but, for a vintage sounding hair metal track, it works. The chorus sticks in your head and is it easy to find yourself singing along without realizing it. The guitar solo is also really, really good if you are into hair metal. “Big World Away” is a lot heavier than I am used to for Winger. It is another solid track, with great guitar work but hampered by a weak, overblown chorus. “Come a Little Closer” is a better track, continuing in the same vein but with a steadier beat and the next song “Pull Me Under” also keeps the album rocking.

The best track is “Supernova.” I’m not sure how many people will understand what I mean when I say the song has a Second Coming vibe. The song starts off with some solid eighties guitar but then progresses to Kip performing his best vocal work on the album with the lead guitar rising to the same level. It is not quite as epic as a Second Coming song but is still really damn good and more impressive than I ever expected from a Winger album.

The album takes a downturn after this. “Always Within Me” is the album’s “Headed For a Heartbreak” song. My biggest problem with this track is the keys, an instrument Winger should have left in the eighties. The song is just as schmaltzy as any Winger ballad (“Like the air that I breathe, like the land and the sea, like the hope, like the need, you’re always within me”). While I can’t get past the keys playing throughout the background of the entire song, the guitar outro that ends it is awesome. The rest of the song sounds like something I would have expected from Night Ranger, not Winger.

“Feeding Frenzy” is next and is an attack on the “TMZ World” that we live in today, celebrities leaving their lives in the open and the public’s interest in watching them crumble. Once again, the guitar is heavy and solid, proving this is Winger’s hardest album yet. The album, if nothing else, is a powerhouse of guitar work. “After All this Time” is an amazing track, a blues song and power ballad rolled into one. The song has a Coverdale/Page feel, Kip’s voice reminding me a lot of David Coverdale in this song while the guitar work is amazing. Reb Beach seems to be channeling Zack Wylde here.

The album ends with a power ballad I don’t like at all, called “Witness.” I can’t listen to this song without memories of Christian rock from the eighties. This is the type of song I expect to hear from Whitecross, or even Petra. It is not helped by the accompanying keys, something that might have made this entire album better if left at home. There is a hint of “Miles Away” or “Headed for a Heartbreak” but the keys and background vocals drags this song from a great epic finale into an instantly forgettable song. It is almost saved by the guitar solo that ends the song. Beach calls it his best guitar solo ever and I have to agree with that. Even the bad songs are partially saved by this albums amazing guitar work.

The 411: Winger is back. A lot of people might laugh at that but somehow Kip and the boys have put together the best album of their career. The guitars on this album remind me of why I love hair metal so much. Guitarist Reb Beach said they wanted to create an album that kicks our asses like a Motley Crue album does, but this doesn’t reach the level of excellence that “Saints of Los Angeles” did. If you are like me and go in expecting a cheesy Winger album you will come away both impressed and enthused that you have found a great metal album that has everything you love about the eighties, along with some things you wish had stayed behind (the keys especially). Winger’s Karma is a great album that will satisfy any child of the eighties.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]