Bring back the Rock 'n' Roll mood, but do not separate thee from the elusive realness, aka this is the new WINGER album presented to the masses - or whoever's remained a truthful fan of this sincere band. Won't chat no more 'bout what level of musicianship and songwriting WINGER's been up to for twenty years now - even if 2006's IV CD scored half of glorious moments in my memoirs sack, to be honest - and, thankfully, Karma illustrates something like an all-things-WINGER compilation thus it will difficultly skip your attention provided you never betrayed the memorized clan of Kip.
Funny thing (another one, to be strict) with these digital download-able promo releases sent out to Media for review is that you can at times be quite distant from reality in terms of judging the production/sound of a specific album. In Karma's case what I listen to is a heavy yet 'underground' rhythm section (including the guitar sound), while the leads beat boasts an impressive shade. In total, the album sounds quite intense and ample but in a semi-polished way. Not that it's something you'll mumble at, but it's quite unusual for WINGER's pieces of virtue. Anyway, more info shall be at hand when the actual CD is out...
Running over the whole tracklist for 4-5 times prior starting to write this review, the idea of many many people having their own image of the USA quartet only through the multi-colored clips for party/club tunes like Easy Come Easy Go and Seventeen bumbed in. It's a wide truth now Pull's refinement was hailed with much enthusiasm by conscious hardrockers but failed to produce even half of the commercial success the first two albums had achieved in the late 80s/early 90s. C' est la vie...So, on with the music:
Deal With The Devil and Stone Cold Killer are beautiful club rockers, ideal for a wild boys night out, while Big World Away brought a lot of memories from the first album's mid-pace moments. Come A Little Closer resembles to a modern American Nu-Rock tune (low-tuned, again) but with a trademark WINGER harmony bridge part you can't ignore. Pull Me Under delivers a semi-Metal start with a follow-up dark dynamic mode, with some excellent orgy vocals by Kip; really a shame it's not even 3 minutes in length. Supernova hits hard, too, in a slow tempo atmosphere, revealing dark secrets of a mature band. Always with Me will bring 80s power ballads memories forth, with a respected portion of Kip's later solo works, while its second part brings on some mid-speed lunar atmosphere (the guitar solo is kick-ass...really...). Feeding Frenzy would make it big 20 years ago dressed in a Sunset Boulevard production; still, it is a remarkable 'crawling riff' piece with pounding drums/bass parts. The last duo is heading for a heartbreak (sic): the bluesbreakin' After All This Time is sensational - in any way - with vintage keys and Witness lets all of WINGER's charisma pop up in 7 minutes of artistic excellence in a so-called ballad(?).
In any way, Karma is a really beautiful album and faithful WINGER supporters will definitely find whole lotta lovable moments in it. More American party hardrockin' boozers shall fall in love with a respected part of the album, too, but I do not know if this'll be enough. Emotional rockers will be more pleased, I guess. Kip had the vision to melt the more commercial, heavier and song oriented approach of the first two albums with the more thinking-man approach of the last two studio records; the quote featured in the Press release is quite right, with a more strict judgment leading a bit more to the second approach mentioned.

P.S.: Of course we do not even touch the band's performance in words...