Stephen
After parting ways with Jaime St James, Warrant decided to bring back Jani Lane to the camp but unfortunately the devil within Lane swallowed him and Warrant had to let him go and recruited former Lynch Mob and Big Cock's frontman, Robert Mason, for replacement. Mason, might be a better singer than Lane, but many will remember Lane with his distinguished vocal and prominent songwriting skill which shape Warrant's music back in the heyday.
'Rockaholic' came out as a different outfit altogether which divided the fans into two. The first accepted that the band has to move on, but the other rejected the idea that Warrant is nothing without Lane. 'Sex Ain't Love', the first single, is pure 80s hard rock magic but without that glammy and glittery Cherry Pie flavor, really love this song when the video first came out, but sad to see that throughout the album, not a single song can touch this as the greatest tune of this album.
'Cocaine Freight Train' is perhaps the closest thing to edge that song, the bluesy metal take on this song is brilliant. 'Innocence Gone', 'What Love Can Do', and 'The Last Straw' are the next great songs, but they also loaded this up with at least 4 fillers such as 'Smoke', 'Dusty's Revenge', 'Candy Man', and the worst track on board, 'Sunshine'. The band gave Mason a chance to fill in Lane shoes as songwriter, and some tracks he wrote such as the ballad 'Home' is awesome, 'Found Forever' is pretty good too, although he's also responsible for the fillers as well.
With all due respect to the late Jani Lane, he'll always be remembered and an integral part of Warrant, but he chose the bitter path and what's done is done. To quote the eight track on this album, 'Show Must Go On', and that's clearly what's going to happen with Warrant. This is a great album, much better than 'Born Again', and hopefully the future is brighter for the band.
Recommended for fans of crunchy hard rock sound of the 80s but not really for those who love the first two albums though.