Warlord - 'Invaders' (official lyric video - 2024 version)

We descend from the belt of Orion
Our life-giving star has come to an end
Civilization is dying
We deem to survive, we search for a land
And we've explored the galaxies
There is just one place we can live and breathe
So we will overthrow the race of man
His way of woe and hate command

We are Invaders from afar, a dying star
Arise and see, the earth in ashes...

We sail through the system Solaris
With thousands of ships in the speed of the light
Hail to our leader we cherish
Our weapons of war prepared for the fight
And we are far beyond his years
Man is just nothing but a beast, atomic spears
So we will make this earth our home, our sphere
This is our destiny so near

Through solemn war, our race it must survive
Yet with remorse, the race of man must die
Through laser forces, with humans we collide
There is no hope for mankind to survive.

We are Invaders from afar, a dying star
Arise and see, the earth in ashes...
We are Invaders from afar, a dying star
Arise and see, the earth in ashes...

Το τραγούδι "Invaders" επρόκειτο να αποτελέσει μέρος του τρίτου δίσκου των Lordian Guard, "The Holy Empire", το οποίο τελικά δεν κυκλοφόρησε καθώς επανασυνδέθηκαν οι Warlord.

Την προσέγγιση πάντως των L.G. την ακούσαμε μέσω συλλογής (του περιοδικού Metal Invader αν δεν με απατά η μνήμη). Το τραγούδι το ξανακούσαμε στον δίσκο της επανασύνδεσης των Warlord "Rising Out of the Ashes" που κυκλοφόρησε το 2002.

Πλέον το ακούμε και τρίτη φορά. Η νέα προσέγγιση (με τον Giles Lavery στα φωνητικά) αφορά τον δίσκο - συλλογή "From The Ashes To The Archives - The Hot Pursuit Continues" που θα κυκλοφορήσει στα τελειώματα του καλοκαιριού (23 Αυγούστου 2024) μέσω της δισκογραφικής εταιρείας High Roller Records, με το δελτίο τύπου να αναφέρει σχετικά:

When William J. Tsamis, founder of legendary Epic Metal masters Warlord, sadly passed away on the 13th of May 2021 at the age of only 60, it looked as if the premature death of one of the most creative forces in American metal had come.

However, Warlord bounced back, with a new line-up and a brand new studio album entitled »Free Spirit Soar« (on High Roller Records) to huge critical acclaim. With guitar and bass parts of Bill Tsamis saved from original recordings, the current team of Mark Zonder (drums), Jimmy Waldo (keyboards) and Giles Lavery (vocals) (plus Eric Juris on guitars and bass on two of the songs) is now following »Free Spirit Soar« with an additional album called »From The Ashes To The Archives – The Hot Pursuit Continues« A limited edition release to mark the occasion of the bands summer dates in 2024.

Singer Giles Lavery explains: “What we wanted to do with some of these songs was to revisit some of the songs from the »Rising Out Of The Ashes« record with this line-up (and using Bill’s guitar and bass tracks) – to give fans an idea of how they are going to sound live this year. Please don't get me wrong, i think Joacim Cans did a brilliant job on the »Rising Out Of The Ashes« originals, so these new versions are to be seen very much as a companion to the 2002 versions, rather than any kind of ’replacement’ for them.

However, the mixes this time around are a little heavier and rawer, and to me it sounds more sonically like it's the 1980s era Warlord, (a sound which really suits the band) ironically the 1980s is when most of these songs on this new collection were written, long before they were recorded for Lordian Guard...

"Winds Of Thor" for example was part of the very first Warlord Demo back in 1982.

It may require a little bit of imagination, but it's almost like, in an alternate reality, IF there had been a follow-up EP to »Deliver Us« and if we can imagine these songs had been recorded and released in 1986 or so, rather than hearing them for the first time as Lordian Guard recordings or later as Warlord in 2002... this could be a look at "what could have been” from a sonic perspective.

The vinyl of »From The Ashes To The Archives – The Hot Pursuit Continues« contains eight songs whereas there are fourteen tracks on the CD version. Once again, Giles Lavery has all the details:

Tracks 9-14 are tracks that have appeared on the various expanded reissues and compilation albums over the years, some of which are now out of print, and thus we wanted to consolidate what we thought were the best of these unavailable rarities for this collection on the CD format.

Of note are the pre-production recordings of some of the »Deliver Us« tracks from 1983, recorded mere days before the EP was tracked... so these are every bit as good quality wise as what ended up on the EP, however, you can hear many differences between the two versions.

In addition and as mentioned, we wanted to have a special compilation for the Warlord live dates in 2024, something that celebrated the band’s past together with the present line-up.