Warrior Soul
Drugs, God and the New Republic

It's 1991, the grunge tsunami is coming after which nothing will be the same. Geffen, who hit the jackpot with Guns 'n Roses and will release "Nevermind" that very year, is trying with Warrior Soul's second album, a band that had caught the attention of critics after the well-received debut "Last Decade Dead Century". The label, however, wants to sell more by trying to fit the group into the vast sea of emerging trends, also pushing their street rock aesthetic in the Guns style, which is still very appealing in the market. Yet, they haven't reckoned with Warrior Soul, an anarchic, furious combo with post-punk roots and especially constantly high on methamphetamine, led by a former delinquent drummer, Corey Clarke, and his partner, Ricco, a talented and very creative guitarist. The result is this "Drugs, God and the New Republic", which is anything but the new "Appetite for Destruction". After a claustrophobic and sick intro, they make it clear where they stand, offering a hallucinatory cover of Joy Division's "Interzone" before sliding into the beautiful title track, dark, apocalyptic, and very much politicized. Then some punk-oriented punches in the face, "Rocket 88", "The Answer", alternated with songs heavily influenced by new wave and psychedelia (the beautiful "Jump for Joy"), leading up to the single, "Wasteland", which was poorly received by the label. Despite the somewhat glossy and Los Angeles-style video, leather pants, hair in the wind, convertible, "Wasteland" is a kick to the gut both musically, straight as a train on punk tracks, and lyrically:
"Pay you money to the landlord
Donald Trump is just a money whore
Under my bed there’s a baseball bat
The goddamn taxes gonna break my back, I'm in the wasteland", write Clarke and company to win affection. Well, they succeed. The label boycotts the album to an incredible extent (sending the band on tour with Queensryche) and despite good reviews, the sales are disappointing. GEFFEN makes another attempt by releasing the band's third work, the equally beautiful "Salutation from the Ghetto Nation", and then honors the contract by printing, in promotional silence, the extremely psychedelic flight "Chill Pill" (worth listening to) then every man for himself, and God for all. At this point, the lineup begins to change, Ricco leaves, and Warrior Soul becomes a affaire solitaire for Clarke. Of their journey, these four chapters remain significant and worth listening to.