04-02-2010Snail trail - Warrior Soul
Scott G returns with his first blast from the past of 2010
Warrior Soul – Last Decade, Dead Century 1990
Back in the day, word had got out that Metallica had chosen their support for the handful of dates they had put together in 1990 as they stadiumed it across Europe for the first time after their initial European ‘Damaged Justice Tour’ jaunt and the name Warrior Soul caused some furrowed brows and blank looks. All we knew was that Motormouth Ulrich had been blowing their horn consistently on the run up to the shows.
Enter ‘Last Decade, Dead Century’ and the impressively maned Kory Clarke informing us that he was ‘the child of the new generation….’
I had a real thing for Warrior Soul when they emerged, so much so that Last Decade Dead Century was actually the first CD I ever bought as I made the transition kicking and screaming into the modern day from my beloved vinyl to compact disc. They burst onto the music scene courtesy of their Geffen Records released début just before Seattle nearly killed off heavy metal with the early 90's grunge movement and with the likes of the aforementioned Lars Ulrich championing their cause they were certainly destined for big things. Not able to be termed heavy metal, glam or thrash metal as was the darling of the mainstream and underground respectively at the time, WS came spitting its politically charged venom at an audience ready for something a little different.
Listening to the album now after a whole American legal age to drink, opener ‘I See the Ruins’ comes lolloping out of the speakers with the style and finesse of a lurching giant yet it captivated and engrossed its listeners with a je ne sais quoi. I've never been one for politics, yet Kory made you listen to what he had to say just through his delivery alone, the music being the perfect springboard for his musical presidential election.
Track two ‘We Cry Out’, came very close to being a personal favourite of mine for the whole of 1990 with its driving beat, infectious guitar melody courtesy of axe man John Ricci and of course KC’s passionate vocal delivery with his wise beyond his years lyrics.
Up next is the song that got the band the biggest exposure and quickly became a timeless classic; ‘The Losers’. The song, slow burning like a Marlboro without lips around it, is simply captivating. The militaristic rolling snare accompanied by Ricci’s subtle guitar lines makes a consummate partnership which is topped off beautifully by the ethereal crooning of Clarke as he delivers the immortal lines “Have you ever wanted to be someone you're not / but you look into the world and you see what you've got” shortly followed by “You changed the channel / and there's nothin' there / you weren't born pretty And it isn't fair...Here's to the losers, The substance abusers, To the rejects, All the imperfects 'Cause I think we're beautiful ….” Simply stunning, and it still holds its own amongst today's crop.
After the beauty of The Losers gently dies from the speakers, ‘Downtown’ then comes swinging out of the stereo like a pissed up Paratrooper screaming out of the pub while on leave. One of the heavier tracks on the album, ‘Downtown’ doesn’t rip your head off with blast beats, mass chugathon breakdowns or technical wizardry, it simply stoves your head in with all the sophistication of the big kick off in Romper Stomper, complete with one of the most vitriolic verse deliveries from KC.
Moving on, never one to deny his penchant for modern chemistry, our long haired music messiah then goes all out lyrically on next track ‘Tripping on Ecstasy’. Listening to the song is a fairly decent way to investigate the effects of methylenedioxymethamphetamine as Clarke goes into some detail on what it does to its users. The trippy and heavily effects laden riffing powering on behind Clarke’s wonderful lines of “My planet's dead / and I'm the king / I'm in love with everything/ I'm losing weight / My mind's a wreck / but I'm in touch with my feelings / M.D.M.A. - Trippin' on ecstasy” makes the tune stick out on the album like bulldog’s bollocks due to it being so musically radically different sounding to the rest of the material found within it however that’s what makes a WS album so intriguing.
‘Superpower Dreamland’ details the hungry younger generation teetering on the edge of revolution whilst aurally hitting the listener over the head with a manhole cover which is then paired nicely with the story of Kory’s past life and past associates in ‘Charlie’s out of Prison’. The song outlines and personifies the lifestyle adopted by so many Detroit natives, where as KC puts it “In Detroit, they make guns / lotsa cars / lotsa criminals”. The song is another heavy bruiser which actually gained a follow on mention on a later album which informed us that Charlie was back in prison…
‘Blown Away’ drops the normal WS mid paced tempo slightly, with KC lyrically digging into the subject of government officials passing their bundles of green notes under the radar to grease corruption and buy missiles and the like while the suffering people use theirs to buy dope. Thought provoking? Dead right. Provocative statements? Well, if Clarke had been a character on 24, he would've been taken out by the Government by now so listen to what he has to say and judge for yourself, after all, that’s all he wanted anyway.
Penultimate track 'Lullaby', penned for his (then) wife, tames the inner punk (and belligerent) beast within the band and gives them the closest thing to a ballad. Never a tune to evoke mass lighter waving in stadiums or 'we love Warrior Soul' banners anywhere accompanied by cowboy hat wearing acoustic guitar toting pretenders, it’s a song about wrapping your arms around the one sacred to you and wanting to protect them from the harsh realities from a cold outside world.
In fine style, 'In Conclusion' picks up the pace and wraps up one of the best Geffen released debut albums there has ever been, in my humble opinion of course. Dealing with reflective knowledge and wisdom through hindsight, Clarke gives his views on what he has seen through his time and eulogises his views on the lives of the subjugated masses based on what he has witnessed. If he had been a leader, would you have followed him? Listen and digest the spoken word 'instrumental' 'Four More Years' and see if you agree with him. Now there's a question …
And there you have it, Warrior Soul's debut album from a massive 21 years ago. Looking at the recently reformed status of the band, I'm left wondering where it went wrong for them, or if not what went wrong, what never went quite right. They followed LDDC with the awesome 'Drugs God and the New Republic' a year later and then after that they gave us the incredible 'Salutations from the Ghetto Nation' which has simply got better with age. There was a slight wobbly with the slightly misfiring and largely misunderstood 'Chill Pill' however CP still had some great moments. KC then had a band overhaul and came back screaming with the brilliant 'Space age Playboys' album which took them in a slightly different, less politically charged, more hedonistic punky rock n' roll direction.
The reincarnation of Warrior Soul has unfortunately slipped through my net, culminating in me missing their 'Chinese Democracy'/ 'And we Rock n Roll' release and the more recent ' Destroy the War Machine' outing, however I have been on the case to rectify that particular blip on my radar.
If you have an interest in them but don’t know where to start, try their 'Classics' cd – a collection of re-recorded songs that equates to a superb 'best of' compilation spanning their heyday. In some cases the newer versions actually have a little more bite than their predecessors so get on it, put it on, turn it up and get 'Blown Away'
SG Jan '10
