{"id":99939,"date":"2023-05-05T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T23:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=99939"},"modified":"2023-05-19T11:25:47","modified_gmt":"2023-05-19T10:25:47","slug":"album-review-winger-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-winger-seven\/","title":{"rendered":"WINGER – Seven (2023) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WINGER
Seven<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFrontiers (2023)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Oh how us thrashers laughed in the 80s when the likes of MTV were pumping out Winger\u2019s \u2018Seventeen\u2019 track and yet here I am, decades later, raving about frontman Kip Winger and his merry band of musos. I guess back in 1988 a lot of hard rock, in spite of its success, was criticised mostly due to its look – the big hair, the tight skimpy clothes, the hairy chests and pre-selfie pouts, and that\u2019s just the men! Even so, it was a golden era to be a teenager even if I veered more towards the extreme side of the metal genre. After grunge hit, Winger disbanded in 1994 but since then studio albums have been released on a sporadic basis.<\/p>\n

Seven<\/em> is, as the title so obviously suggests, the seventh full-length release from Winger and it comes nine years after the last outing, 2014\u2019s Better Days Comin\u2019<\/em><\/a>, which in spite of its title saw the band somewhat fade from the public eye. However, and as expected, this new release showcases all that was and is to be admired from Winger; the steaming grooves, the big melodies and catchy choruses and a batch of songs which prove, once and for all, that Winger is and always was a talented outfit, especially the criminally underrated guitarist Reb Beach who struts through this album with devilish swagger.<\/p>\n

From the hefty trails of opener \u2018Proud Desperado\u2019, Winger showcase that driving weight that many bands of this ilk are rarely commended for. Kip Winger has that snarl in his voice, while the drums of Rod Morgenstein have that cocksure kick. Forget the myths that Winger was and remains bubblegum pomp rock because at times the guys deliver crisp and heavy stuff that sizzles with a fiery exuberance.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the riffs continue throughout with the likes of \u2018Tears Of Blood\u2019 and the grungy \u2018Voodoo Fire\u2019, although the more melodious, softer tracks brim with a wholesome density too. We must never underestimate the songwriting prowess and technical ability of the band even with the AOR sways of a track like \u2018Heaven\u2019s Falling\u2019 and the ballad \u2018Broken Glass\u2019. Of course the rockier escapades are never far away and \u2018Stick The Knife In And Twist\u2019 and \u2018It\u2019s Okay\u2019 are evidence again of finely tuned, riff-driven melodies, but the way you get those acoustic blends too on a few tracks is a great example of the underrated diversity of the band.<\/p>\n

Winger may always be remembered as being part of the poorly labelled \u201chair metal\u201d scene, although the detractors among you might want to not only revisit the back catalogue but also take a dip into Seven<\/em> as proof that this is a seriously talented heavy rock band with still so much fantastic material to offer.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WINGERSeven Frontiers (2023)Rating: 8.5\/10 Oh how us thrashers laughed in the 80s when the likes of MTV were pumping out Winger\u2019s \u2018Seventeen\u2019 track and yet here I am, decades later, raving about frontman Kip Winger and his merry band of musos. I guess back in 1988 a lot of hard rock, in spite of its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1169],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-winger"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99939"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99942,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99939\/revisions\/99942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}