Whoa!!!!

Ok. 10 seconds in to the new Winger album 'Karma' I'm in love. This one is HEAVY with a capital everything! No lie, I already prefer this album to their last and I'm only 2 minutes into the first song. In 'Deal With The Devil', Kip and band say they have traded their souls for Rock & Roll and I'd say they got a pretty good trade. Sucked in Devil, Winger won out on that one.

Tracks 2 and 3 in 'Stone Cold Killer' and 'Big World Away' keep the pace up and now I have a mild case of rock neck - the condition caused by too much head banging. Only 3 in, I'm worried for the safety of my neck.

See now, the only problem I have with the track 'Come A Little Closer' is that it's only 2:50mins in length. It's my favourite so far. Let's see if that changes. Ooh. Hello track 5, what's your name? 'Pull Me Under' well nice to hear you. Hmm... Seriously. The heavier riffs on this song are what has been missing from any Winger release for a long time. Ok now Reb Beach is just showing off. I'm sold. Back to the riffs. I want to say this album could be the love child of 'Pull' and 'In The Heart Of The Young' and they named it 'Karma”.

I am proud to say that I'm a Winger fan, have been for many years and I must say that on the last album, the skip button come into play, but 6 tracks in and no chance of that yet... Let's see how it plays out with 4 tracks to go.

Melodically this album is great!! Kip Winger has always had a great voice and on this album he has a range taking him from almost song talking to some of those high notes he's so good at. Winger have always been musically an amazing band and 'Karma' showcases so much of that talent. The production is big and at times raw and there is so much going on, yet none of it is lost. The little fills, the guitar squeals and of course the harmonies.

Hey, where's my power ballad?  Always Within Me' has potential...Does it? Does it go there? Why YES yes it does!! Phew...

Seriously?! This is Winger right?! I still can't get over the

heaviness. This riff on 'Feeding Frenzy' sounds Zombie or even Manson-esque. It's insane. I don't want it to end. Well that song did and um, now with 'After All This Time', it's a blues record. Hmm... Did I need that after being so pumped up? I don't think so. A good song, but weird placement on the album plus at over 6 minutes it's just too much for where it is, my first downer. Oh no. Now the last track is 7 minutes. But YAY! heavy is back. Thankyou 'Witness' you just may be the end to the album I need. Now I love a guitar solo. But do I love a 3 minute one that fades the album out?!  Probably not. But do I enjoy Reb Beach's playing?! YES this cat can play. I've been playing guitar

for 20 years and I'm not good enough to even carry his guitar case.  It's a pleasure to listen to.

Overall it's a very Welcome comeback to Winger, at only 10 tracks I feel a couple more could have been added, but selfishly because I wanted more. And with only 1 skip worthy track that I'm sure will grow on me, I'll be busting out the Winger shirt tomorrow, so that's the tick of approval from me.

So they say Karma can be a bitch, well I say this Karma is BITCHIN'