Kory Clarke had a second coming a couple of years ago with the hard rock outfit, Dirty Rig. Sometime after that it was announced that he would be replacing Eric Wagner in Trouble and it seemed like the man was well and truly back. Last month saw a new Warrior Soul album in the form of Chinese Democracy after 14 years of silence from what is without a doubt the best band Clarke’s been involved in and probably one of the most under rated and overlooked bands of the 90s.

Chinese Democracy features an all new line up of the band that Clarke’s put together with himself being the only original member left. The music has more in common with Dirty Rig than with classic Warrior Soul material and the album is pretty much a nonstop hard rocking machine. Stand out tracks include album opener Fuck the Pigs which is somewhere between glam and the blues rock swagger of ZZ Top, the layered ball busting aggression of The Fourth Reich with its slight electronic touches, the tongue in cheek feminism baiting of She’s Glaswegian and the unadulterated 80s worship of Motor City.

The big change is in Clarke’s voice. Where before he was a bit guilty of over emoting and being a little bit gay, now his voice sounds like it’s been put through years of whiskey and cigarette abuse and it sounds great. He does a raspy singing voice that still manages to hit the notes effortlessly while providing way more attitude than before. He’s also backed up by a terrific band. The rhythm section is incredibly tight and the bass player even manages to sneak in a solo on Don’t Believe without coming across as being a wanker. The guitars are loud and fuzzy and the leads are played with a lot of taste and restraint.

Overall I’d say that this is the best hard rock album I’ve heard in a long time. It’s infinitely superior to its more popular namesake and if you have even a tiny bit of interest in the whole 80s hard rock scene then you should really check this album out.



Label - Escapi
Year of Release - 2008