When Chris Robinson sings "Hallelujah, come join the jubilee" on album opener "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution," it's an invitation Black Crowes fans consider overdue. "Warpaint" is the group's first new studio album in seven years, and somehow it's more energetic and focused than anything since, perhaps, 1994's "Amorica." "Warpaint" mines the same Allmans-to-Zappa synthesis of influences that's been the Crowes' stock in trade but finds the group fortified by sharp songwriting and lace-tight, live-sounding performances. The Crowes remain loud and proud proponents of psychedelic trippiness on "Daughters," "Whoa Mule" and "Wounded Bird," and dig into some gritty grooves on "Walk Believer Walk," "Evergreen" and a spirited cover of the Rev. Charlie Jackson's "God's Got It." "Oh Josephine" and "There's Gold in Them Hills" deliver mellower moments, and the 11-song set establishes the group's return as something to crow about.—Gary Graff