In the office this album has been a bit of a running joke over the last year or so. With light-hearted jibes about if or when it would arrive. Well it's finally here and boy it's worth the wait!
The title Warrior Sound is very apt as this is the album you would throw on before going into battle. It's rammed full of high energy loops, chops and lyrics that get the blood pumping. Tracks like 'New Design' and 'No More' are just begging to be thrown over a fight scene in a Hollywood blockbuster.
The album kicks off with a short track which is half way between a prayer and a call to arms.
"We see our world as a machine, wheel always turning, everything exactly where it needs to be, our world, our world is not driven by fuel or profit, emotion or god. Our world is driven by the truth".
Then it launches into 'Jungle', an angst filled tack which has a very tribal theme. Something that runs throughout the album, each track tapping into the emotions of different types of warriors from turf warring city gangs to full out high-tech warfare.
Although it's a heavy album there are plenty of respites in melodic sections but it's never long till everything is slowly ramped back up to 10. The album will sit nicely alongside the likes of Rage Against The Machine and Nine Inch Nails' debut albums. It gets that perfect balance of 'in your face music' with a commercial hook and production levels that really help deliver the punches.
Lyrics like "Bring it on tonight", "We're not going to take this any longer" and "So let it burn" have been rolling round my head since I first heard it. Every chance I get this album has been pounding my ears, it's explicitly great on headphones which really gets the sounds bouncing around your head.
Having seen many of these tracks live over the last year, it's good to hear they have captured the same energy on the recordings as the live performances deliver. I don't know how much the album has evolved during the delay but it feels like they have really fine tuned the sound live and injected it into the recordings.
For me this is definitely going to be one of those seminal go-to albums that I'll keep coming back to over and over again.
Jonski Mason
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