Honest and poignant.
This tenth studio album from Warrior Soul shows they have lost none of their nuclear blast impact. The band have certainly got heavier over the years and despite there being less political content in this release than others, the zeitgeist of the album is a bit like the party at the end of the universe when it's got so late in the day, with no hope of ever doing anything about anything, that everybody has said, "Fuck it" and mainlined into oblivion.
Right from the opening 'Up The Dose' there's an AC/DC directness about the Rock on this album, and interestingly Kory Clarke's voice has become more like Brian Johnson's as he has got older. However, perhaps the biggest difference is that Clarke is far from donning a flat cap and slippers, he's still thin as a whippet and as the man himself has previously stated, his heart will probably give out before his legs. 'Going Mental', my favourite track on the release, indicates that he is still capable of rocking as hard as any Punk Rock musician from the seventies and way harder than the snowflake generation.
Despite suffering from a 'Rock 'N' Roll Disease' and acutely aware of the penalties his lifestyle can incur, he can still sing 'Off My Face' without any hypocrisy as you know he lives the Rock 'n Roll life; in fact, he does so to such an extent that if you want to interview him, you had best do it early in the day. With some blistering guitar, a venomous vocal delivery and an authentic attitude, what else could a heavy Rock 'n' Roll album need.
Clarke doesn't act his age; this man has never done what society and the men in suits wanted him to. He has remained an authentic outsider whose independence meant he has never ever sold out, so he can look his fans in the face without a flinch. In some ways, Rock 'n' Roll has kept him young, but the fact that it will also be the death of him makes this work honest and poignant.
Dawn Osborne
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