FAIR WARNING — Fair Warning (review)

FAIR WARNING — Fair Warning album cover Album · 1992 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
The Crow
Very solid debut from a very solid group!

Fair Warning is one of these bands which continued to play 80’s influenced AOR-hard rock through the 90’s. But the difference is that they made it better than most of their contemporary similar groups. And that’s was not really a surprise given the experience and quality of the members!

The album has also a great production, thanks to a good engineering work by Frank Wuttke. The keyboards sounds dated today, but that’s just the style of early 90’s AOR. Take it or leave it!

Fair Warning starts with Longing For Love, where we can hear the great vocal capabilities of Tommy Heart and the professional work of every member of the band. The strong guitars of Helge Engelke and Andy Malecek, together with Heart’s vocals, are maybe the most remarkable aspect of this band. Great electric solo on this track!

When Love Fails is a good mid-tempo with strong AOR sounding hard rock, elegant and with a good songwriting, while The Call of the Heart a very good hard rock ballad, which remembers me to the best moments of Bon Jovi. Crazy is funnier and faster, with good doubled guitars.

One Step Closer is a harder, more dramatic track, in contract to Hang On with its almost funky rythms, good chorus and another interesting solo. Out on the Run is heavier, and it remembers me to the Judas Priest of Point of Entry. Very good!

Long Gone is another ballad, just correct and this time with acoustic arrangements. The Eyes of Rock is a piece of accelerated hard rock, flirting with heavy metal again. Take a Look at the Future is not so remarkable, but it contains good choirs in the chorus nevertheless.

The album takes its final stretch with The Heat of Emotion, very melodic, with some pop elements and tons of keyboards. The style is a bit different, because it’s a track which was originally composed for Zeno, a band formed by Zeno Roth where the bassist Uli W. Ritgen played. And Take Me Up is another soft ballad in the style of Scorpions, making a good ending for the album.

Conclusion: Fair Warning is a very good AOR-Hard Rock album. It has strong songwriting, very good musicianship highlighting the great voice of Tommy Heart and the good guitar solos, and a pristine production.

Today it sounds a bit dated, and can be even boring if you are not experienced in AOR, but I consider it will make an excellent addition to any hard rock collection anyway. Recommended!

Best Tracks: Longing for Love, The Call of the Heart, Crazy, Hang On.

My Rating: ***
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 6 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed