Winger fail to reinvent themselves again, but who cares when the choruses are this big?

Unlike many of their hair-metal contemporaries, this perennially radio-friendly, fashion-agnostic quartet have kept their original line-up intact since officially re-forming their late-80s incarnation in 2006.

And by now they are of course well aware of what their audience wants from them and have no need to reinvent themselves. 

So despite a nine-year lay-off since 2014’s Better Days Comin’, they might as well never have been away, judging by the heavy trucking drive of Heaven’s Falling, It’s Okay and Time Bomb, which might recognise that life ain’t a party any more but suggests a big fat arena chorus can make it feel a whole lot better. 

The galloping melodrama of Proud Desperado and Tears Of Blood once again nod towards more adventurous pomp-rock anthemics, and the grungier Voodoo Fire and balladry of Broken Glass are effective pace breakers, but ultimately they are minor diversions from a tried and trusted path.

Source: loudersound.com