Warrior Soul @ Iron Road, 30th May 2019
As the band start on stage with the expected chants of “We are the government!” , the enthusiastic audience embrace the final sentence “and we rock n’ roll”. At a Warrior Soul gig, that is a guarantee. From start to finish, irrespective of the venue size or audience numbers, Kory Clarke gives his all to the performance ensuring that everyone experiences rock n’ roll at full throttle.
The first section of the set is dedicated to Warrior Soul’s most recent couple of albums, Back On The Lash and Rock n’ Roll Disease. Each track obliterating your senses with its hard hitting riffs that epitomize straightforward rock with lyrical content focused on overindulgence of the highest degree.
Clarke has a real knack for writing a musically upbeat song with subversive words, precisely what rock music should be. His vocal delivery is so passionate that you would struggle to find a singer that exudes such fervour and intensity, his rough and raspy voice is pushed to the limit with every line he sings. It is this commitment to the cause that draws the crowd closer and they are transfixed by the performance, furthermore, it is Clarke’s energy that drives the other band members who are playing full pelt too.
After raising the atmosphere in the room, Warrior Soul switch the set to one that is dedicated to older tracks which truly appeal to the majority of the crowd. Starting with Rocket Engines, from 1994’s The Space Age Playboys album, the driving pace pounds through and sees more people moving further forward to enjoy the wall of sound that is being transmitted from the stage. Generation Graveyard maintains the accelerated nature of the set which picks up the political nature of much of Warrior Soul’s lyrics, a theme that had been wholeheartedly expressed earlier during American Idol.
If ever there was a song title that perfectly described the singer then Punk And Belligerent is that track, with its brazen attitude that grabs you by the throat and gives you four minutes of musical assault. Without missing any of the ambience that has been created, Clarke leads the band in one of the heartbreaking songs from the back catalogue, The Losers. The emotion expressed through the band’s performance is palpable especially as Clarke lies on the floor with turmoil upon his face encouraging the band to continue playing and emphasise the dynamics of the song. At points during this segment of the set, Kory is noticeably turning up the amps of the band to give the audience the complete experience as they power through The Drug.
There is a call for a round of Jagerbombs to be brought on to the stage noting that this will happen as someone forgot to book a hotel for the night and it sure as hell appears, this with jokes about Thursday leads on to The Wasteland with its repetitive guitar riff and provocative lyrics, “Donald Trump is just a money whore” written long before anyone even contemplated the possibility of him being president. After a blast of Rotten Soul, the finale and piece de resistance is Love Destruction with its interesting guitar pattern followed by a strong marching beat, this song is the perfect ending to what has been an immense rock show.
As noted at the beginning, the crowd in Pershore experienced rock n’ roll in lashings with such exuberance it has hard to restrict it to words.
Reviewer: Toni Woodward