When
Warrior Soul first appeared on the scene back at the dawn of the '90s, they were not afraid to speak their mind about politics and/or the state of the world in their lyrics. Musically however, they had quite a lot in common sonically with the then-current copy of heavy yet mainstream metal acts. Despite receiving some accolades and sweet touring slots, the group -- led by founding member/singer
Kory Clarke -- never broke through commercially and called it a day in 1995. Fast forward 11 years, and
Clarke opted to resurrect
Warrior Soul with a whole new lineup, which issued their first studio album in 14 years in 2009,
Destroy the War Machine. Even with such a long lay-off, the song remains the same -- heavy metal that would have sounded right at home being introduced by
Rikki Rachtman back in 1990/1991 on Headbanger's Ball, and
Clarke ranting and raving about what he doesn't find enjoyable in the modern world ("The Fourth Reich," "Motor City," etc.). And on tunes such as "Pigs" and "Knocking ‘Em Down (In the City)," if you can picture a more explosively metallic/early era
Guns N' Roses or
Skid Row, you're pretty close to the sound
Warrior Soul specializes in here. But amidst all the gritty/hard-hitting tunes, you'll find a song or two that leaves you scratching your head at the fact that
Clarke is trying just too darn hard at times, namely "She's Glaswegian," which contains some downright silly lyrics, delivered in an even sillier voice. For better or for worse,
Destroy the War Machine sounds just like you'd think a new
Warrior Soul studio album would sound like -- be it 1992 or 2009. ~ Greg Prato