Warner Drive – City Of Angels

After successfully launching their career in the realm of independent artists, Los Angeles rock group Warner Drive has signed on with NoFx guitarist El Heffe’s Cyber Tracks for their full-length label debut, City Of Angels.  In a word, the disc is a showcase of all American rock.  Those hoping for another Cyber Tracks punk rock throwback are barking up the wrong tree, although some minor influences certainly act as a tease.  In their realm though, Warner Drive is a deserving rock act in the thick of a clear career upswing.  

The album erupts at a forceful pace, melding heavy guitars and anthemic percussion with weighted drum blasts and authoritative riffage.  “Rising From The Fallen” comes chalk full of pound the ground attitude that ushers in the vocal strength of ‘Johnny Law.’  The track strikes a balance between anthemic and commanding while strutting with a mid-tempo confidence.  As far as first impressions go, Warner Drive starts with an ear grabber, and follows up with the slightly edgier “The City Of Angels.”  Over-listening punk fans will inevitably feel the tease of the quickening melodic “woahs” searing through the verse.  Before long though, the band’s allegiances begin showing their limitations.  In fact, listeners can wave goodbye to anything more exciting than a mid-tempo rockers until their return to form with album closer, “Fully Loaded.”

In particular, songs like “Boys N’ Girls” and “Radio Love Song” do little to separate Warner Drive from many of the overplayed rock n roll clichés or our time.  “Boys N’ Girls” devolves into a chorus of stiff, lifeless lyrics (“boy meets world and girls changes his world”) that offer little for listeners to connect with on a personal or meaningful level.  “Radio Love Song” plays much the same with the seemingly never ending chorus “sounds like a radio love song, the kind I’ve waited for so long… take a ride and lay it all on the line.” Even the fun late song solos can’t overcome these hollow, cringe worthy passages.  Rather than have something meaningful to say, the words serve as disposable placeholders as the band rocks out.  The band does little to counter these snoozers with any guitar work beyond the status quo.

Comparatively, those like “King Of Swing” and “West Memphis Three” might not offer too much in terms of brainpower, but by the same token they don’t degrade into brain dead drivel either.  Rock has never been about lyrics that penetrate too far below the surface, but as a general rule, those with talent and aspiration should aim far enough to reach Aerosmith or Guns N Roses, rather than being contented to stay at the surface with the likes of Nickelback or Chevelle.

City Of Angels is a flawed album by an obviously talented group of American rock n roll loving musicians.  They wear their idols on their sleeve but do little to offer listeners a reason to choose them over past greats.  A handful of early tracks showcase some promising emerging personality, but the band retreats to safety for the bulk of the record.  There’s no question that Warner Drive has the instrumental talent to make it big, they just need to find a purpose for their music that extends beyond rocking out.