'Belly to Belly:Volume One,' Warrant's fifth studio album, continues the grunge trend of the previous effort, 'Ultraphobic'; that is, the distortion is muddier and the songs display less refinement, and aren't as straight forward than on previous albums. Also like its predecessor, BTB has some good stuff despite the grunge tinges. Of note: three original members are here, but Rick Steier replaces Joey Allen on guitars and Bobby Borg replaces James Kottak on drums (who was a replacement for original drummer Steven Sweet). These two new musicians help add to the grunge sound, although Jani Lane, being the main songwriter, needs to take most of the blame. But, he's also the reason this album is bearable, as his creative songwriting shines through the Seattle-tinged fog at times.
Opener "In the End (There's Nothing)" starts us out with a nice and heavy riff - as heavy as you can be with this distortion sound, at least. It gets mellow in the verses but is otherwise pretty good. "Feels Good" has a simplistic, grunge-like riff and some irritating vocal effects, but is ok during the choruses. "Letter to a Friend" isn't very heavy, but it has some catchy vocal melodies. "Indian Giver" is decent, and "Falling Down" finally gets thicker at about the two-minute mark. The relative "heaviness," however, only raises some of these tunes to average. It can't do anything to save the lame "Coffee House" or strange "Nobody Else." "Solid" is good, but again those stinkin' vocal effects - can't stand them!
As a finger to the popular Northwest mid'90s music movement, "AYM" makes fun of the success-hating, angst-loving Generation X, but does so by being ironically grungy... just like the rest of the album, hmm. Still, it has a good (if simple) riff and a nice tempo, making it one of the better songs. "Room With a View" has a quirky, mellow guitar riff, but I like it. A good chorus holds the listener over until it gets ballsier after the second chorus. "Vergito" has some faster guitar work, making it easily the best thing about 'Belly to Belly.'
Though some of the aforementioned effects hold the album back quite a bit, there is still some good music here, thanks to Jani Lane's songwriting.

TRACK LIST:
1. In the End (There's Nothing)
2. Feels Good
3. Letter to a Friend
4. AYM
5. Indian Giver
6. Falling Down
7. Interlude # 1
8. Solid
9. All 4 U
10. Coffee House
11. Interlude # 2
12. Vertigo
13. Room With a View
14. Nobody Else

Review by Jon Paine