Customer Reviews

Warriors of the Rainbow Bridge

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Good
Hatchet starts their latest album off appropriately with the southern pride anthem "Son of the South". Guitarist Bobby Ingram loads the track with chunky riffs and stinging licks. Phil McCormack's throaty vocals emit a powerful delivery. "I'm ready for You" is super-charged by a sweet lick that returns again and again. The lyrics tell the tale of racing a police cruiser down the highway (Smokey & The Bandit baby!). Inspiring power chords and driving percussion dominate "Roadhouse Boogie", a track about how good life is on the road. It hints at the bad side of the road as well.

The energy runs high on "Get in the Game" as McCormack displays some of his strongest vocals yet and Ingram lays down some unforgettable runs. "Flames Are Burning" focuses on how great things can be until it is ruined by infidelity. The verses section uses a lot of piano in the foreground, while the choruses are full of McCormack's anger and frustration. The sexually-charged song "Behind the Bedroom Door" has a heavenly intro to it that sounds like Joe Coker's "A Little Help From My Friend's" (The Wonder Years theme). From there it continues with some great southern rock boogie-woogie riffing and bluesy licks.

The Bad
Although full of emotion, McCormack's vocals are just too gritty for the ballads.

The Verdict
Warriors of the Rainbow Bridge is a great southern rock record with just the right touch of heavy metal. Ingram and company have crafted a classic piece of rock that's full of memorable and identifiable music.

No, this is not 1978. It is 2005 and Warriors Of The Rainbow Bridge is one of Molly Hatchet's strongest CD's. There are no "filler" songs on this CD, every track has it's own unique groove and feel. You can feel the emotion in every solo that guitarist Bobby Ingram puts into each song, and this is Phil McCormacks strongest vocal effort since becoming Hatchet's lead singer way back in 1996. Not only do I think this is one of their best CD's, I think it is one of the best rock albums released in a long time and Molly Hatchet are leading the way in the southern rock genre. If you like Molly Hatchet, southern rock or just straight-ahead, screamin' guitars cranked to 11, in-your-face, hard 'n heavy rock 'n roll, then this CD is for you - as are Hatchet's last three releases "Kingdom Of XII", "Silent Reign Of Heroes" and "Devil's Canyon".

Molly Hatchet have made a brilliant return with WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW BRIDGE, their first studio album of completely new material since KINGDOM OF XII, with a title track inspired by guitarist Bobby Ingram's loss of his wife. What's more, the guys in this band, like many other Southern rock road warriors (Skynyrd, Outlaws, Tucker, etc.), advocate sanctions against Indonesia in the wake of that country's trumped-up 2005 drug-smuggling conviction of a young Australian tourist. In addition, original guitarist Dave Hlubek returns to co-lead the band with vocalist Phil McCormack and longtime six-stringer (and his own replacement) Ingram. This sense of purpose spills into almost everything on here, even the slower songs, making WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW BRIDGE an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.

on this latest Cd! The boys from Jacksonville come out playing it hard and heavy on Warriors Of The Rainbow Bridge. Right from the start you get pumped up with the first song, Son Of The South. You'll catch yourself singing along to this one real quick! My favorite song at present is Roadhouse Boogie. Lead singer Phil McCormack pours his soul into this one. Bobby Ingrams guitar playing is nothing short of awesome. The band as a whole is tight and rock solid. In my opinion this is Molly Hatchet doing what they do best, playing great hard kickin', guitar driven Southern Rock! Check it out for yourself.

Here is another collection of great songs by Ingram and McCormack. NO FILLER HERE! If you liked anything this group has released starting with Devils Canyon, you'll love this.

"...gloomy, distorted guitar, political band..."
"...yankee doodle songs with very little vocal harmonies..."
?????
Distorted, political, and vocal harmonies.
Makes me wonder.....
Where have ya'll been getting this stuff ya'll are smokin'?
Nothing Molly Hatchet has ever recorded could be construed, even in a demented, LSD induced hallucination, as political. Maybe hearing distorted guitars, if you did enough of it.
The real funny part is "vocal harmonies". You'd have to tell me what album you were listening to that has Molly Hatchet and vocal harmonies on the same record / CD.
"...will never catch the attention of pop-metal fans..."
Good ..... "Pop metal" gives me nightmares of Britney Spears doing Queensryche. Trying to sing it ... or whatever. It's pretty bad any way you wanna look at it.
Time to get serious now, folks.
This is the best Southern Rock CD to come out in YEARS!!! From any band! JVZ is being quoted as saying "They've really got something here."
Don't be fooled by the title of the CD, or by the titles of the songs. Everything fits just fine and while inspired by the passing of Bobby's wife, Stephanie, in April 2004, there's nothing sappy or weepy here. This is balls to the wall Southern Rock. The rhythm section and bass crunch right along, the guitar work from Bobby Ingram and Russ Maxwell soars high and free, and an extra heavy dose of drummin' from Shawn Beamer creates an infectious mix that's topped off with some of the best vocal work I've ever heard Phil McCormack put out.
There's no comparing this CD to the early days of "Flirtin' with Disaster" and such. "Flirtin' " was 27 years ago and whoever tries to compare the two needs to time warp forward to the present day and pay attention to what's really going on.
This CD rates as "hghly acclaimed" by anyone with any type of musical knowledge expertise and IMO this is some of Hatchet's best work ever and it stands alone on it's own merit.
If you ain't listenin' to it....you're missing out.

WOW! These guys rip it to shreds once again. Warriors Of The Rainbow Bridge is pure album rock southern style. Every song kicks major butt, no sappy stuff here. The Hatchet boys sound better than ever. DONT MISS THIS CD!!!

I read through the other reviews curious to see what other people thought of this CD. Every review appeared to be a "loved it" or "hated it". I go back to beginning....before the release of the debut album and most of the "hated its" were pissed that Danny Joe or Duane or other original members are gone. Like Cork said, get over it and get past 1978.

Personnally I love it!! It's a no excuses, in your face rock & roll CD; you know the kind that used to be rather easy to find....25 yrs ago. Nobody makes CDs or writes tunes like this anymore. Today everything has to have "an angle" or "catch phrase" to make it cool. Ask yourself this....when was the last time Skynyrd or 38 put out a CD that you wanted to listen to a 2nd time? Anyone want my copy of "Drivetrain"?

From "Son of the South" through "Rainbow Bridge" its non-stop, no filler, ax slingin, drum poundin, bass thumpin southern 'metal'!

Bobby & the boys deserve every good thing said about "Warriors" because it will stand the test of time.

Walt

First of All i want to say all their albums a great. From the Danny Joe Brown (RIP) Days till now this album is very strong, just found out about it saturday and got it and don't regret it at all, I'm southern but not a big southern band fan but have always liked Molly Hatchet, But anyway this probably of the newer hatchet albums the most hard rockin' cd they have produced and with Dave back one can say at least one original member is here. I saw them back at the first of the summer And they kicked, one reviewer i noticed said did anyone want to buy his copy of 38 specials drivetrain, does anyone want to buy mine! I've never made it through it yet, done played this album 20 plus times since saturday and still gets better. so in closing with me mainly a metal music person if molly hatchet can impress me with the heavy sound of this album then they can go a long way, of course i'm not a music critic but i say go buy it!!

To all you people living in the past, get a life. The band has grown beyond the point of trying to make every album sound like a Flirtin' With Disaster, you should too. I'm very glad of that as Flirtin' isn't and wasn't the "best" Hatchet cd ever anyway. Sure, that song got tons of air play, but are you people to illiterate to like a song that ISN'T played on the radio until it's worn out? Warriors of the Rainbow Bridge isn't the "best" Hatchet ever either, but IS a WHOLE lot better than any other southern rock coming out lately or especially any of the new music altogether. Good to see Dave Hlubek back in the band. Hope he stays, but I have my doubts on that. Warriors is slightly more of a hard rock album than strictly a southern rock one, but who cares about the genre? If it's good, get it and crank it and this is a good one!! GET IT NOW!!