Warrior Soul -- Last Decade Dead Century

Year: 1990
Label: Geffen
Style: Alt-metal
Location: Waterloo Records (Austin, TX)
Medium: CD
Condition: Used
Dollar diamond or dud: Diamond--like a big massive one

I actually purchased this in about 2002, and I had forgotten that it was from the $1-bin until I broke it out last week for a refresher spin and saw the "Waterloo Discount $1.00" on the back... I'll admit that I'm biased in a pro-Warrior Soul fashion because, for as long as I've owned it (about twenty years now), I've absolutely loved their second record, Drugs God & the New Republic, which is conventionally held to be lesser to this one... I disagree, but that's just me...

That said, Last Decade is absolutely stellar. A great record from one of the most underrated rock bands of all time. Kory Clarke's political stances aside, this band created some killer psychedelic-tinged alt-metal, like Jane's Addiction mixed with thrash metal and post-punk or something. There's no other band I can think of that sounded like this at the time, and if all had gone according to plan, Warrior Soul would've been huge. What went wrong, I don't know, but they should've been...

For this specific record, there's the closest thing they had to a classic, which is The Losers, with it's huge refrain. There's also Downtown and Superpower Dreamland and We Cry Out. Aside from the throwaway spoken-word Four More Years, there's nothing here that's anything less than kick-ass. Fans of anything remotely metallic and different would be advised to check this band out, but be forewarned: the production didn't hold up as well as the tunes. The guitars are dry and compressed, but beyond that, it's still pretty raw and rocking.

About Waterloo: It rules. Go there. Austin is one of my favorite cities, and I visit Waterloo and Cheapo's every time I go, without fail.