It's been - more or less - a year since I reviewed Chris Caffery's Faces/God Damn War (2004) double CD. As one can read in my review of that release, I was pretty impressed by what Caffery had in him all this time (by just being a guitarist) and let it out in a packed with anger double release. And since the God Damn War bonus CD already was more than just a plain thrown-in piece of extra material, now it's time for W.A.R.P.E.D. to hit the stores.
W.A.R.P.E.D. is practically God Damn War at its full extent, featuring additional tracks that were either previously unreleased or were just included on the U.S. version of Faces.
Starting with the first track, Home Is Where The Hell Is, the feeling you get is that Chris has focused even more on the chaotic, gray colored feeling that was evident on GDW, originating of course from his feelings about the war in Iraq and war in general - the madness. Then you've got Election Day (I won't comment on the songs that already exist on GDW since you can read about them in my previous review) which in contradiction to.Home Is... is a really intense, fast Hard Rock/Metal track; short if you ask me (2:30 minutes long) but quite groovy. Erase is a really slow yet heavy and pompous track. It embraces you with its doomsday-like atmosphere from beginning to end. W.A.R.P.E.D. was included in the U.S. edition of Faces and is - again - a strong Heavy Metal song, though not the strongest on this release and maybe slightly monotonous. It's Iraq Attack that caught my interest - musically - more than  the previously mentioned self titled track. Awesome solos, heavy-as-mother-fuckin'-hell riffs over an issue I'd really rather now express my feelings about since this is not the place do so; we're here just for the music anyway. Jon Oliva (Savatage, Jon Oliva's Pain) throws in an awesome guest vocal performance (doing all the lead vocals on the track) and in general the whole song is quite ass-kicking. Finally, State Of The Head is a hammering track with a classical Heavy Metal vibe running through it; fast drums, shredding guitars and Chris at his best!
In a nutshell, I have to admit that it's a bit tricky - sales wise - to be releasing a CD with songs that can also be found on the bonus CD of the same artist's previous release since the fans' pockets are in no wealthy condition (globally speaking) nowadays. It's kind of like W.A.R.P.E.D. makes God Damn War look like a needless addition to Faces. Nevertheless, whatever you chose to buy, be it the one or the other, I'm pretty sure you'll feel it was worth the money. Now, let's see what Mr. Caffery has in store for us next...
P.S. I wanted this review to be close to a year after I had reviewed Faces/God Damn War. That's why I'm probably the last in line to be reviewing W.A.R.P.E.D.. But you know what they say here in Greece, it takes time for good things to happen. Nah, I'll shut up now, I'm overrating myself again...
- Album Highlights: God Damn War, Election Day, Saddamize, Iraq Attack, Fool, Fool! and Erase.