Warrant – Ultraphobic (Release Year – 1995)
Warrant has reunited with their original lineup intact in 2008, and will
be one of the headlining acts at Rocklahoma on Saturday, July 12th.
As much as I like the initial releases with the original lineup, I decided to dust off one of Warrant’s later discs, Ultraphobic, which featured Kingdom Come’s Rick Steir on guitar and James Kottak on drums.
I remember when I first heard that a couple of former Kingdom Come guys were joining the band, I was hoping that Warrant might try to approach a classic rock/ Zepplinesque update to their music. That was not the case at all with Ultraphobic.
In 1995, Hair metal was about as popular as diarrhea, but Warrant tried to forge ahead with a darker, grungier sound in an effort to stay relevant in
the music scene. The sound of Ultraphobic seemed to follow the heavier sound of the 1992 Warrant record, Dog Eat Dog.
The guitars are are tuned down, and a little grungier on Ultraphobic. For me, this style of guitar playing does not suit Jani Lane’s voice well, and this album suffers as a result.
There are a couple of highlights on this disc. Undertow, isn’t too bad, and Crawl Space is pretty cool. I kind of like the title track, Ultraphobic as well.
Chameleon is a song that would have sounded better if Warrant just stuck to their tried and true sound. The deeper guitar sounds mess up, what could have been one of the better Warrant tracks. There are some cool guitar parts, but this song scream redo.
I have to applaud Warrant for trying to stay relevant in the music scene (although some might argue that they never were relevant). Ultraphobic isn’t a total departure from their signature glam metal sound, but I didn’t care for the varied guitar sounds on this disc. (What was the purpose of that drill sound on Ride #2)
With the classic lineup of Warrant back together, they could rearrange some of the songs on Ultraphobic, and quite possibly turn them into new hits. This isn’t Warrant’s best work, but it isn’t their worst either. This is a middle of the road album, that isn’t as good as the first three discs the band released. Warrant fans will still want to pick this up. All others may want to preview this album on Amazon.com, before buying.
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
1. Undertow
2. Followed
3. Family Picnic
4. Sum Of One
5. Chameleon
6. Crawl Space
7. Live Inside Of You
8. High
9. Ride #2
10. Ultraphobic
11. Stronger Now
Warrant is:
Jani Lane – Lead Vocals
Rick Steier – Guitar
Erik Turner – Guitar
Dave White – Keyboards
Jerry Dixon – Bass
James Kottak – Drums
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