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Dog Eat Dog

Warrant - Dog Eat Dog Audio CD

A fair review of the Warrant "Dog Eat Dog" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Warrant reviews here, or go back to the Warrant tabs.

Band: Warrant
Title: Dog Eat Dog
Rating:

Release Date: 1992-08-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Machine Gun 2: Whole in My Wall 3: April 2031 4: Andy Warhol Was Right 5: Bonfire 6: Bitter Pill 7: Hollywood (So Far, So Good) 8: All My Bridges Are Burning 9: Quicksand 10: Let It Rain 11: Inside Out 12: Sad Theresa

Nice attempt at Thrash
You have to admit it's rather interesting how Warrant keeps trying to toughen up their sound, and yet it still comes out as pop metal. But you're still big hair metal. They roughed up their sound on "Cherry Pie", and with this one I think they wanted it to be ultra heavy, and they start right out of the gate with "Machine Gun" which is a nice little thrash number, and then they go right into "Hole In My Wall" which to me sounds alot like Metallica's "Thing That Should Not Be", but then they do a 180, and do their attempt at grunge with "April 2031". Then pay tribute to Andy Warhol with "Andy Warhol Was Right". However, it's not too much longer before they go back into the pop metal ala Dokken with "Bonfire", and "Bitter Pill", "Quicksand" etc. With every Warrant album there has to be a song that reminds you of their number 2 song "Heaven", and while on "Cherry Pie" it was "I Saw Red", and "Sometimes She Cries" Here it's "Let It Rain", and they didn't release this as a single???? Their final attempt at thrash is a song called "Inside Out", and finally ends with another ballad called "Sad Theresa". Warrant I guess is the metal band that doesn't get any respect if you want to hear some more heavy Warrant check out their version of "We Will Rock You" on the film "Gladiator". As for this well they get an "A" for effort, but let's face it they're still a big hair metal band. Perhaps that trend will come back someday, and I know Warrant will be there to cash in. .

Dog eat Dog
Great vocals and guitar work. A good album from Warrant, although not chart toppers. An album worth having.

Album of the year
My favorite song is April 2031. This is one of the best albums ever made. It was so ahead of it's time. It was to bad that it was overlooked.

Feed the Cherry Pie to the Dog
No matter what they've done since, it's hard to dissociate the band from the cream puff delight of a video for that song (who can forget the indelible image of the cherry pie slice falling between the crotch of the smoking hot Bobbi Brown?). Nearly two decades after pop metal sensation Warrant scored what was perhaps their biggest hit in "Cherry Pie," they are still synonymous with hair metal cheese in the eyes of rock fans.

Warrant followed up the "Cherry Pie" album with the much darker and heavier "Dog Eat Dog" in 1992. Although "Dog" received critical praise, the album went nowhere, in large part thanks to the "Nirvana virus" that almost wiped hair metal off the map. It's a damn shame too, because this album strays far from what people expect of a "hair metal" band.

I rocked out to "Dog Eat Dog" through my Walkman many times after buying the tape back in 1992. But I too, succumbed to "Grunge-itis," got me a cd player and put the tape on the shelf for good in 1994. I may have dusted it off once a few years later, but audio cassettes at that point were not far from becoming extinct.

Despite years of downloading songs off the Internet from my friend's computer and later my own, I recently got back into the habit of purchasing cd's. I missed listening to albums; the ambiance of an album; the tone established by the cover art; the smell of the packaging; and since cd's themselves are on the verge of extinction, it is relatively cheap to buy them these days. The only song I downloaded from the "Dog" album was "The Bitter Pill," which I've listened to many times during the last few years, but I began missing some of the other tracks. I couldn't find even a used copy in any store, so I recently went on Amazon. com and purchased a "Like New" copy of "Dog Eat Dog. "

You know an album is great when after 15 years of not listening to it, you still know the words to most of the songs. The album sounds, well, "Like New". If you didn't know it was Warrant, you could pass it off as something produced this decade. The band's sound on this record is heavy and melodic, comparable to a lighter version of Evans Blue. The doomsday-themed "April 2031," with its heavy riffs and haunting chorus laced with children's voices, offers a somewhat clich� yet intense perspective on what the future would be like in the wake of nuclear pollution.

There are a few pop radio-friendly tracks like "Bonfire", "All My Bridges are Burning" and "Hollywood (So Far, So Good)" that don't necessarily stand out but are solid rockers; the semi-ballad "Quicksand" does however, stand out. Of course at the time there was the mandatory power ballad or two, which on this record exist in the form of "The Bitter Pill" and "Let it Rain," both hauntingly beautiful yet hard enough to make you forget this was the same band that put out the sappy hit "Heaven". While "Let it Rain" is closer to what you'd expect from a power ballad, "The Bitter Pill" offers some interesting twists, including a self-duet of singer Jani Lane in the intro and a bizarre German chant midway through the song, as well as a killer guitar solo worthy of a heavier non-ballad.

A third ballad, "Sad Theresa," is a little sappier and somewhat forgettable, and in my opinion could've been and perhaps should've been left out. In fact, the album should've closed with the penultimate "Inside Out," a ball-breaking thrasher that sounds more like it was written for a thrash metal band such as Anthrax. Back in the day, I hated "Inside Out" because I misunderstood some of the lyrics. What ruined the song for me in the past was my misinterpretation of the chorus, in a line that I thought was "Cinnamon gum, screaming chum," and since the lyrics for this song were mysteriously left out of the liner notes, it wasn't until today, in 2009, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, that I now know it's "Should've been gone, scream and shout. " Knowing this now forever erased my loathing of this song, to which I now consider one of the best speed metal songs produced by a band that will forever carry the stigma of being a hair band.

Whether you hate Warrant (and there are plenty of reasons to) or not, "Dog Eat Dog" is definitely an exciting experimental album worthy of any rock collection. And I recommend buying the cd rather than downloading it off the Internet; "old school" rock fans who enjoy albums will not be dissapointed. Forget that it's Warrant you are listening to. Actually, don't; the fact that a band dismissed as a hair metal band could put out an album this damn good makes the experience much more interesting and perhaps, bizarre.

Stephen Byrne.

The true meaning of BAD TIMING.
This disc should be released and promoted today. This is one of the most well put together batch of tunes. The downfall was it was released in 1992 when this genre was being kicked out the door. It is a shame, because Warrant was given their stigma due to the previous explosion of Cherry Pie. . . this is not Cherry Pie. This is more along the lines of their substance song, Uncle Tom's Cabin.

I've seen environmental videos use the song April 2031. . . just a stellar crafted tune.
Andy Warhol Was Right is a great look at a child wanting love.
Bitter Pill takes ballads in a whole new direction with left/right vocals in the speakers. Jani does some great German.
Hole in My Wall puts the guitar and talk box to a very good use.
Machine Gun and Bonfire are what you expect from Warrant, but with more intensity and rawness.
Inside Out is punkish, but keeping with the rock attitude.
Sad Theresa is a nice closer.
The only stinker is Hollywood. . . cool lyrics, but musically doesn't at all fit.

A great cd for anyone who likes melodies, great twist on lyrics, and groove.

You can see a complete list of all Warrant discography, or go back to the Warrant tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.