If you listened to a decent amount of hardcore or metalcore in the early to mid-2000s, chances are that California based The Warriors were somewhere in your rotation. Compared to some of the others out there that got tagged with metalcore or metallic hardcore, The Warriors tended to stick a bit closer to the hardcore side of things and would add some metallic sheen at key moments for some extra heaviness. Albums like 2006’s Beyond the Noise and 2007’s Genuine Sense of Outrage were regular parts of my teenage years but compared to some of the other heavy hitters these guys put out material less often as time progressed. It would take five years for a follow-up to Genuine Sense of Outrage to come out, and another eight after that before Monomyth emerged. That album tried quite a few new things and broadened the group’s sound, though not every experiment felt like it fully clicked. Continuing the trend of decent gaps between albums, six years have now passed since Monomyth and The Warriors have pivoted back towards a more streamlined beatdown on their sixth album Burn Yourself Alive.
When an opener is named “Warriors Wrecking Crew”, you should have a pretty good idea of what you’re in for. At just under a minute and a half this track serves as an appropriately punchy and high energy lead-in to “My Blood”, which keeps things moving with plenty of meaty chugs and bouncier riffing. Compared to some of the elements that Monomyth wove into The Warriors’ sound, the material here feels like it peels things back to the basics without completely losing some of the different nuances. “Those Who Know Know Why” has some different rhythms woven in amongst the up-tempo guitar leads, while “Perfidia” and “Still a Tightrope Walk” opt for some melodies that give a more introspective tone before the sound explodes into the more incendiary hardcore riffs. Moments like these have leads that are up there with some of The Warriors’ best and feel like the perfect balance of their earliest and more recent material. Admittedly given the brevity of the album, some of them do run together and seem to end just as they’re hitting their stride.
Marshall Lichtenwaldt’s vocal style made some of The Warriors’ earlier material a bit of an acquired taste, as he fused the traditional hardcore shout/yell with some very raspy and abrasive screams that were often quite ear piercing. It’s one of the elements that drew me into Genuine Sense of Outrage, so it was initially a bit disappointing to hear that this is no longer part of the performance. But what you do get is high energy yelling from beginning to end with plenty of gang chants on most of the songs, which brings things back to older Agnostic Front style hardcore. It works well with what the rest of the band is doing, and the inclusion of guests like Nails’ Todd Jones and Ill Communication’s Andy Franchere adds some variety. If you missed Monomyth this shift might be unexpected, but if you’re like me it’ll grow on you the more you listen.
Album number six doesn’t quite reach the same peaks as some of my favorites from The Warriors, but there’s still plenty to like and songs like “Perfidia” and “Still a Tightrope Walk” have quite a bit of staying power. It’s definitely consistent, and whether intentional or not this more back to the roots hardcore sound works and should appeal to fans of the genre whether they’ve been following them for the past two decades or not. At this stage you never know when The Warriors will break their silence again, so it’s appreciated that they’ve come back with a bang. Burn Yourself Alive. is available from Pure Noise Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg