It’s 2023, and you know what that means? It’s time to admit, once and for all, that Winger wasn’t nearly as bad as Metallica and Beavis and Butthead would have you believe. Yes, it didn’t help that their biggest hit was an ode to underage sex, and that even by my heterosexual standards, Kip Winger was one fine lookin’ cat in his prime (and in a Metal Church shirt no less), leading to the “style over substance” claims. However, when we put Winger next to their end-stage hair metal peers, the results are damning. Here was a band of talented writers/arrangers and even more talented players, who lie somewhere between prog, metal, and power pop, only to be typecast as a boy band with guitars.
Say what you will about Winger; one thing you can’t call them is one-dimensional. It isn’t often that this veteran band gets around to releasing new music, which is a crying shame considering they’ve only grown stronger with age. Whereas their late 80s/early 90s heyday saw them bound and gagged to Atlantic Records, expected to churn out “the single” or “the ballad” on command, their output from Pull (1993) onwards has been chock full of fresh and exciting experimentation. All this, mind you, without straying from their old school hard rock and metal roots.
On their new album, the aptly titled Seven, Winger leaves no musical stone unturned. From the opening melodic metal rage of “Proud Desperado” and its fulfilling feast of tough riffage, we’re in for an all killer, no filler outing. The straightforward rockers channel the feelgood spirit of the 80s with a heavy dose of groove, albeit more derived from Zeppelin and Mk. III Purple than Pantera. Cuts like the no frills “Resurrect Me”, powerful “It’s Okay”, and funk-a-licious “Voodoo Fire” dare you to not crank up the volume. Contrasting these are vast, intricate AOR suites like “Broken Glass” and “It All Comes Back Around”, which channel the progressive pomp of Styx and Magnum in their regal arrangements and dramatic atmosphere.
Most bands would struggle to incorporate such contrasting styles on a single album, yet here’s Winger, making every puzzle piece fit like the pros they are. It should come as no surprise then that my two choice cuts are arguably Seven‘s biggest outliers. “Stick the Knife In and Twist” is a vicious display of traditional metal mania from the band you’d least expect to deliver such. Yes, I really just used the “word” vicious in a Winger review. Get a load of those menacing NWOBHM riffs and you’ll understand why. And then there’s “Tears of Blood”: A melodic metal masterpiece for the ages. With its dark, progressive textures, gripping lyrics, foreboding riffs, and a vocal performance for the ages, “Tears of Blood” is perhaps Winger’s greatest song to date. One listen and it’s hard to argue otherwise.
Sure, Metallica may be playing stadiums for the next two years, and Beavis and Butthead are back on the air (and by “on the air”, I mean streaming because nobody watches TV anymore), but at what cost? Metallica just rehashed The Black Album for the zillionth time, and Beavis and Butthead are cultural dinosaurs of the Clinton era, banking on nostalgia because their target demographic is too busy playing Fortnite. Meanwhile, Winger is continuing to make music that’s heavy, dynamic, and above all, compelling. Sorry Lars! Kip’s had the last laugh!
8 out of 10
Label: Frontiers Records
Genre: Hard Rock
For fans of: Pretty Maids, Deep Purple, House of Lords