Warrior Soul, The Beyond
Astoria, London

The Beyond
Friday, December 20
OH, BLOODY hell - the Beyond are still here. I thought they were dead, defunct or, worse, dropped. As last year's mutated kiddy - Thrash phenomenon, the Beyond at least looked cool. Dig any deeper and they have all the charisma of Nigel Mansell, all the subtlety of Santa, and their songs are crap. Indulgent. Frisky chainsaw nothing. They will never be EMF no matter how hard they try to rip off Thin White Rope.
The Beyond were last year's buzz word. Everybody knows that. Let's start the New Year without them.
In contrast, the sheer irony of Warrior Soul appearing at the Astoria as part of the American Dream promotion is practically hilarious. Whereas Tuff and XYZ represent all that is hateful about the stupid Yank sideshow (gormless and tarty little trinkets with all the substance of a black hole), Kory Clarke is it's pain in the ass. A mad agitator. A leper. Who knows - maybe they really could amend the Constitution and substitute 'The Star Spangled Banner' with 'Drugs, God And The New Republic'. Anyway I would vote for Kory Clarke.

Tonight - Warrior Soul's first headlining UK show since the Metallica tour - Kory Clarke is all he should be. He is defiant and deranged, proud and pretty - a bellowing heart of hate songs and babble poetry. Nothing girly, y' understand? Nothing, er, cute. Kory may be small, but he is nonetheless riveting up there.
Like any good pop star, he suffers from an acute Messiah complex. The Other Three (drums, guitar and bass) are proficient and occasionally sparkling - but nondescript beside Kory Clarke. Upstaging tactics (smiling and soloing) are not encouraged. Warrior Soul are unquestionably led from the front. As 'Intro' reaches a crescendo with it's 'We are the Government!' rant, however, most of the capacity crowd are already entranced.
The show stretches deep into Warrior Soul's two albums.

'Rocket '88' and Joy Division's 'Interzone' are sharp and brutal. 'Superpower Dreamland' and 'Downtown' thump home with their solid, unshakable angst intact. Warrior Soul's music is lean and stark. Instead of Queensryche's pompous wizardry and Kings X's creepy, garbled messages, Kory Clarke talks simply. Even I can understand most of this.

Kory preaches - like a by-election in personal politics, if you really must know - but he preaches fro the dark side. In comparison, Stevie Rachelle is a monkey. 'The Losers' (Cos I think we're beautiful') and "Lullaby' combine hope, drama and desperation. Both are ballads of the '...Last Decade'. In the hand of anybody else the sentiments of both would be patronizing and sick. But Biff Byford has never held a candle to Kory Clarke. 'Children Of The Winter' has always been too cumbersome for comfort. Tonight they close the show with that lengthy mood-piece, but opt for a riotous 'Wasteland' as an encore. There is little fanfare. Good. Warrior Soul deserve more than the usual hokey pantomime.

Only cretins try to get the world to sing in harmony at a rock n' roll show, and who are Warrior Soul anyway? Gary Fucking Glitter? Warrior Soul have frequently promised much, but until tonight have failed to truly deliver. Please bring them back. If, as rumoured, Americana ignores them to death, then I am going to start a war. -Chris Watts

Vive la revolution!