Hello and Goodbye
Following the really rather good 'Drugs, God and the New Republic' was always going to be a difficult task for Warrior Soul and what should have been a triumphant progression turned out to be a big disappointment. The third Warrior Soul album arrived a year after the second and whilst retaining the same big production as the previous album there was something of a change in style.
The riff fest that was 'Drugs, God and the New Republic' seems to have taken it out of the band and they clearly felt the need to slow everything down and take it easy! Opening tracks 'Love Destruction' and 'Blown' set the stall out early and although they sound big and full in terms of production they are pretty weak as songs and the promising riffs just never take off, giving the whole album a restrained feel. Tracks like 'Shine Like It' have some nice guitar work in but by the time it arrives in the song you've already switched off as it just plods along with repetitive rhythm.
After four songs of this already tired formula you find yourself just hoping that the next song will pick up the pace and the appropriately titled 'Punk and Belligerent' almost makes it but even though it's a welcome change of pace it's a very average song. The overall quality of the songs is the other disappointment with this album, it sounds almost as if they used up all the best songs on the previous album and have settled for below par tracks this time around, maybe they were under pressure to release another album and rushed it? Either way it's a sub standard offering compared to 'Drugs, God and the New Republic' and the longer it goes on the more it sounds like Motley Crue and believe me, that is no good thing!
Lengthy ballad 'Golden Shore' is nicely done and is a welcome distraction from the turgid drone that has permeated the album so far but even this falls short of being a good song. All the excitement and energy that shone through the second album has just evaporated. There is brief hope with the upbeat 'I Love You' and the huge sound scape of 'Fallen' has some good moments but it's all too little too late, the last three tracks hint that there may be something worth salvaging but they can't save the album as a whole.
If you've already heard the reissue versions of the first two albums then you'll know just what to expect from the bonus tracks! Yep, more fairly pointless bad quality live recordings.