U.S.A. WARRIOR • Fighting For The Earth LP

Sunday, January 11, 2009

10 Records 1985
Not sure if these guys actually went by U.S.A. WARRIOR, or if the U.S.A. was just tacked onto the cover to somehow distinguish them from the multitude of other meatheads using the same name. No matter, this WARRIOR play straight up Heavy Metal that, for a couple of reasons, is more commercially viable than most. First the production. It's glossy and full, and sounds like the kinda big budget treatment usually reserved for the likes of WINGER or POISON. That's not a bad thing, cuz the record sounds great. Vocalist Parramore McCarty (yup that's what it says) adds to to the commerciality with a strong voice and catchy melodic vocal lines. But don't get the wrong idea... this is Metal - there's plodding pounding rhythms, galloping riffs, doomsday lyrics, harmony guitar solos, etc, etc, it's just done through a commercial sheen. JUDAS PRIEST were clearly an influence, and there's a bit of a SAVATAGE feel to the proceedings. This is really good shit, and apparently these guys were out there fighting for the earth, so I think it's only fair that you give their little record a listen.
DOWNLOAD: USAWarrior-FightingForTheEarth.rar (70.04 MB)

7 comments:

Unknown said...

These guys were just named Warrior. Never saw a version with USA written on it. They have a few CD's out, actually, I want to say on Metal Blade, but none were as good as that debut. They also just got back together, www.myspace.com/warriorusa.

Alcolm X said...

The U.S.A. was probably just slapped on there for the Canadian release.

Anonymous said...

with the exception of an Asian member, these guys were actually more or less Yugoslavian. i suspect the whole appearance + name thing was just to convince the xenophopic Anglo-public that they were getting the real Yankee deal. i still recall the video, great stuff considering its commercial ambitions. \m/ (>__<) \m/

MeTuLHeD said...

Anonymous said: with the exception of an Asian member, these guys were actually more or less Yugoslavian.


Ummm...how can I say this. You are more or less...TOTALLY WRONG!

Warrior is from the USA...Los Angeles, California to be specific. The band was formed by the nucleus of guitarists Joe Floyd and Tommy Asakawa and vocalist Parramore McCarty.

Formerly, Asakawa had played in Buster Cherry alongside vocalist Stephen Pearcy (Ratt) and played with the band Metropolis working with guitarist Robbin Crosby (Ratt). Metropolis also featured vocalist Parramore McCarty...which is how the two originally met.

The three hooked up in Los Angeles in 1983, working under different names before finally settling on Warrior. Warrior hit the LA rock scene right at the height of the glam/sleeze/hair metal explosion. But as they were the TOTAL antithesis of that entire schtick, their record label did not know how to market them properly and promptly dropped them from their roster. Over the next five to six years, the band continued to work the LA club circuit before finally disbanding in the early 90's.

In 1998, the band reunited and recorded their second release Ancient Future. Since that time they have gone on to record two additional discs...Code Of Life (2001) and The Wars Of Gods And Men (2004).

russman said...

Love this album! These guys kicked ass back in the day. Listening to my record right now. Still a great album, I always dug Paramore what's his names voice. They're like a junior Judas Priest. We didn't get a Priest album in 1985, this was the next best thing.
I'm from Canada and my record has "U.S.A." on it. As Alcolm said, it was probbaly just a Canadian thing.

Anonymous said...

Yes! Warrior stuck to their guns and wrote a great metal album that was ahead of its time. The album content appears to be concept. Maybe the reason why they didn't get properly pushed and promoted to the masses is that the subject matter hit to close to home for the ruling few. When they realized what the lyrics said they got nervous and decided to have Warrior dropped from the major label. The labels MCA excuse for letting them go was that they didn't know how to market them but we all know that's bullshit. \m/

jamesefox said...

This album blew me away on my first listen and still blows me away to this day. Warrior, Leatherwolf, Pretty Maids (their heavier stuff) and a few others from this period basically laid the groundwork for what would become Power Metal AND Melodic Metal.