THE WARNING: Rock or Metal? (Part 1) 

It seemed to me that you may have missed the fact that Dany and Pau share vocal duties on "Survive". Paulina does the intro and chorus, Dany does the verses and both sing the pre-chorus and all three ladies sing most of the "Whoa Oh Ho's"

Great video, I'm looking forward to part 2! But, at 6:35 you mention Dany experimenting with vocal tone in Survive. The intro and chorus is Pau's voice. That song is a duet.

My favorite song from XXl Century Blood is Copper Bullets. Not only is it a hard hitting song musically, but the topic of domestic violence was controversial enough that their father asked them not to release it. He felt it too mature a topic for his young daughters. Pau defended it so vigorously that Luis agreed to its release….so the world was not deprived of what I think is a powerful piece of art. These sisters have always had something to say, which is not common for young artists of any time period.

Trying to classify The Warning is exactly the same as trying to classify The Beatles. They absorb everything around them and create incredible new music in a way no one else has done before.

Important to recognize they were elementary and middle schoolers during first EP and not much older in 21st Century Blood

Fun discussion - and what’s not to love about a 3 sister power trio😀🤘

I commented on a previous video that I consider them hard rock. Frankly it is not that it is super important to me, it is more that calling them metal, in my opinion, sets up some unrealistic expectation for people discovering them, which is why I clarify. Not a big deal, but just like to make it clear that you should expect mostly rock songs from them, with a few exceptions that are borderline metal.

can't wait for the 2nd part.

Great video ! ! The explanation of intervals that define Rock, Hard Rock, and Metal was really interesting. Looking forward to the videos covering Queen of the Murder Scene and Error.

interesting analysis, now I consider those album heavier, show me the light is one of my favorite songs and I was really surprised how it was classified, I did not consider it so but you have a strong point, now I can only wait for the second part 😎🤘

Enjoyed the video. Looking forward to part 2.

Ya, I'd probably still classify them as hard rock rather than metal, but a few tracks are close enough to the line that it's anybody's guess if they should count as metal or not. I generally find The Warning to be less heavy than Skillet or Breaking Benjamin, and I normally put those bands in the hard rock basket as well, but Queen of the Murder Scene definitely has a Black Sabbath-ish sound to the main riff, so that one might cross over depending on the era of metal you're comparing them to. These days, most metal has really low tuning, so The Warning don't seem nearly heavy enough to count, but comparing them to some metal from the 70s and 80s makes it less obvious. Disciple and Evolve are probably the other tracks that get close to the line.

They are a rock band but have a metal stick on stage

In my view, they are a rock band that occasionally strays into the metal sub genre.

It’s hard to put them into a cubbyhole. Their music is quite varied. It’s kind of like going to a salad bar and calling it all lettuce. 😂

Wildfire has undertones of Mexican folk music. The chord structure gives it away. This occurs again in both later albums. Narcicissta is in your face Mexican, on purpose. Martirio has a nice underlay of it. Dust to Dust ending is definitely Mexican. These girls really know how to write music.

One correction with regards to the song Survive. The intro and the chorus is Pau singing not Dany. Dany sings the verses and harmonizes on the chorus. Otherwise good analysis.

Great video! Looking forward part 2 ❤

I really enjoyed the video. I will echo some of the comments already posted. First it is very impressive that when the EP Escape the Mind was released, Dany was 15, Pau was 13 and Dany was 10. For XXI Century Blood just add 2 to those ages. Their musicianship for that age is amazing but their songwriting ability is simply mind-blowing. Dany's vocals have improved so much from 2015 to now because of practice and simply maturing. There is a huge difference between vocals at age 15 and 17, even 18, and vocals at age 23. Speaking of vocals, I am sure you now know that Dany and Pau split duties on songs, including Survive. I look forward to Part 2, but I doubt I will change my mind that they are a good ole rock band. Never say never though.

Excellent analysis, I like the range in which the band moves, classic rock, hard, punk and sometimes they flirt with classic metal. In Mexico, some people describe them as pop, but they speak more of ignorance about the band and are mainly stung by their success. Thank you for taking time for them.

I like your serious analysis without taking yourself or the subject too seriously. That nets you a subscribe. Interesting your comment about When I'm Alone -- that actually was about Dany's personal angst. They were attending the 5-week summer program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and Dany had an assignment to write a song. She was drawing a blank the night before it was due, and Dany was feeling very homesick, since it was the longest they had been away from home. Her parents and sisters were with her, of course, but she was still feeling it...and the song came to her. It's one of only two songs on XXICB that they still play, the other being Survive. She sounded particularly inspired when they played in Boston a year ago May (I suspect they'll play it on Friday, too). Interesting comment about River's Soul. Dave Ellefson commented (he was one of their teachers) that the riff had an Iron Maiden feel to it. That more than anything else from the album (even Black Holes -- there, I've said it) is one that I wish they would start playing again. The bridge section with the different tempo and polyphonic lead vocals is something that not many other bands could pull off. I'm really looking forward to part 2.

This is fascinating... extremely eloquent with an excellent command of language and analysis. I'm duly impressed and totally rocked out to your song snippets of The Warning! Respect to you, sir! Excellent work! I'm VERY curious to find out how you categorize the songs of their next two albums! And then of course, the singles that aren't on albums....

Thanks for your reaction. It's quite timely, as the fact they´ve been invited to Wacken 2024, an honor that very few Mexican bands have had, brought the topic back again. Many here in Mexico argued TW is not metal but hard rock at best. However, and this is sad to say, in most cases negative comments were not about it, but about the sister's social origin ('privileged' according to some) or attacks whether they are only famous because they are pretty... and similar nonsense and mysoginistic bull*. So: double thanks for your analysis. I will send the link to the haters. [Just a note... your comment about Black Holes was quite short. For me, this song, about such a hard topic as addictions, evidences the maturity and down-to-earth sensibility TW already had by then].

These girls do so much reading and absorb so much of the grown up world Their songs were so deep in the early stages people wondered where they came up with the concepts. Paulina was speaking good EnglishAs an early teen, She admitted that some of her songs were dark but they were strictly from books they were very happy young ladies. I'm 71 years old and there's people in my orbithat I could not talk to the way that you can talk to these sisters, Their love of reading has really made their grown up Understanding even deeper. They have excellent role models, The dad(Luis)& Their mother( Monica) They don't bring it up all that often but they are a very tight family. They all get along extremely well, Love the warning❤❤❤

Awesome breakdown. I have always considered TW to be hard rock, but because of their varied writing approach, one could say they fit right in to Lemmy’s description. They play rock and roll, and I love it! In fact, from a very early age I compared their approach to the greatest rock band of all time……QUEEN. Now I do not think they sound like Queen, but they do have a similar approach. Each song is unique, and they do vary greatly in the emotion and message behind them. I believe that is the appeal to The Warning. There is something on each album that fits nicely into the broad spectrums of rock genres. Straight up rock. Funk. Hard rock. Punk. Metal. Blues. All are present in the unique way that only Dany, Pau and Ale are composing songs today. The list of bands that they have been compared to is both astonishing in number, and comical in variety. Like I said in your earlier video that included them, the ladies are leading the way in rock music right now and the burden does not seem too heavy. 🤘🏻❤️⚠️

Can't disagree, and like you said, the fans don't care what you call it. Make for interesting discussion though. I'll be looking for the next installment. For the record, I'll support the next record whatever anyone calls it.

Interesting breakdown, and I whole-heartedly agree with your conclusions. Other than the Escape the Mind EP, I've always heard classic hard rock in the sound of The Warning. But I could also argue that there are a lot of punk elements, some pop influences, and even a little bit of grunge and metal. Being an older person, I can hear more of the music of my youth from the girls than I've heard from other bands. Songs like "Unmendable" and "PSYCHOTIC" are right in my wheelhouse and Queen of the Murder Scene is my favorite album since the 1970s. Can 't wait for part 2!

I've been listening to them now for several years and I own all of their music that is available for sale. I've seen them in concert multiple times and I am a patreon supporter of the band. At the risk of taking heat from my fellow warning Army members I would definitely have to classify them as rock. I have never thought of them as a metal band.

I don't want to say I've forgotten how much I love their music, but man, was it always this good? They just write songs that press all the right buttons for me. My favorite band ever; by a country mile!

⚡✌️🤘🤟⚠️⚡Well one thing I appreciate at least, They PLAY all of their Instruments and sound even better LIVE! Putting on a show that is Fun and Engaging! Rock On TW Army! ✌️🤘⚠️⚡

good analysis of his ep EtM and his Lp XXICB I agree with everything... but where I agree most is with River's Soul years ago when I told some friends that it reminded me of Maiden they laughed... but I knew that not only I thought that way , it's more Ale (bass) has a lot of steve harris in his bass lines and some stage movements too, I hope I'm not the only ones who think so, greetings from Mexico.

Escape the Mind. First time in studio. Learning how things are done. A lot of the songs on XXI Century Blood were written basically at the same time as the ones on Escape the Mind. The covered a metal song or two, and infuenced by severa different genres. Maybe a genre of music. The Warning genre ❤. "When I'm Alone" homework while at Berklee School of Music. Dany had to write a song for a class. She was very homesick. 5+ week course.

fun fact: the band itself once asked their fans what genre they would put them into

I think of them as hard rock, but I understand they have a lot of metalhead fans.

All the songs on the 'Escape the Mind' EP and a few more on the 'XXICB' album were written as *homework assignments* for their mentor, Pablo González Sarre of the Mexican pop band Los Claxons. He was originally asked to teach Ale bass by the girls' father Luis (a long time friend) but eventually ended up teaching the girls how to be a band and how to write songs. As homework they were asked to compose and arrange *genre-specific* songs which he critiqued at their next meeting. They eventually asked him to teach them how to record and produce their music, which again was done only as a learning exercise. When they started fundraising to attend the Berklee School of Music they released six of these songs as an EP on iTunes, and after they attended Berklee in 2015 the remaining songs became the starting point for their first album released in 2017. The 'homework' songs were written mostly in 2014 when they were 14, 12 and 9 and the additional album songs were completed in 2016 when they were 16, 14 and 11.

When I'm Alone was written by Dany and you made a great point there that the lyrics are sad but the music is happy as if it's showing both the inner and outer emotions of a person in that state. It is my favorite Warning song. This song by Dany is an A+++ in my books.

Also really cool that they used you for the XXI CB album cover! 😬😉🤘🏼❤️‍🔥🤘🏼

Well, after watching this I've determined that WE NEED PART 2 ASAP!!! 🤘🔥😎

Loving your breakdowns of their albums. 🤟❤️⚡⚡⚡

Great! Thank you. Gracias por tu paciente y minuciosa explicación. Eres una excelente profesor

Awesome breakdown of my favorite band The Warning and thank you for the heads-up!

Holding the glasses is a nice "professor-y" touch, Dad. 😊

Metal has a spectrum like everything else, most people consider UFO to be a metal band, but think about what they sound like next to someone like Celtic Frost

Actually, Survive is a duet by Dany and Pau. There’s the voice change you noticed

The closest they come to Metal is Queen of the murder scene

Excellent video metal Professor. For me they are just a true honest rock band. When you have a chance, hope you check their aftermovies they release for many of their concerts in their own channel. It's a great chance to know how the girls are out of the stage, probably it would complement the definition of their art. Subscribing to your channel right now. Cheers from Mexico!

I have always heard a pinch of Soundgarden in " Copper Bullets" Iove that song! I'm sure someone will call me crazy, but it's what I hear.

i dont see 1 metal tune they have but rock i do for sure, if they did decide to do a metal song it would def be bad ass

It's funny how "When I'm Alone" stand outs, even to this day. Such a bad ass, simple, amazing rock composition sung with such passion and emotion it will move the hardest of rockers. Great video!

Thanks for making this series about The Warning. Being one of my favorite bands, it's enjoyable to watch others give their opinions on their music. To me they are the complete package as far as bands go. They write catchy songs, can play their instruments well and all three can sing. Plus they are dynamic live performers. I look forward to parts 2 and 3. subbed

I want part two man! Been five days that I go to your channel page twice a day just to see if part two is released 😢

Soft Rock was a sub genre made to describe early 70s artists like The Carpenters, Neil Diamond etc. Calling any rock that’s remotely accessible as “pop” is also a recent phenomenon No one even called The Go Gos “pop” in 1981 (in the US I mean. The terms were always more interchangeable in the UK) “It’s all rock n roll to me” Billy Joel

I like to learn something every day, man. Thank for that.

excelente trabajo analizando a tremenda banda... ya estoy esperando la secuela del video 🤘🤘⚡

In the case of TW you have my full attention and I will be looking forward to the second part of this interesting video-analysis but mainly waiting for other reactions about my favorite band of... rock? hard Rock? metal? or maybe grunge?... well, we'll see. Thanks and greetings from México!! 🤘😁✌️

Gran análisis de las diosas del rock. Muchas gracias. Saludos

When an artist makes music they love the music will be better,everyone listening can love, hate, critique and classify as they will, i like the music and everything about them, when and if their sound isn’t for me anymore I’ll listen to something else, but what they’ve done so far have become songs that i will keep playing probably forever

Nice video! They have elements of classic rock, alternative rock, grunge, punk, and mix all to their versatile style. Exterminated for example is a superb grunge song. What is interesting, some fans find 70s or 80s elements, I find many 90s references, they have something for all lovers of handmade guitardriven music! They just have been invited to perform at Wacken 2024… the most famous metal/rock festival in Europe… that’s great! Thanks, greetings from Germany 👍⚡️🤘

What I love about the warning is that they play various rock rhythms, that's why for me their records are not boring because they give you a walk of rhythms.what is sure they can make all kinds of music and that is super cool

Good analyst and balanced to a degree. I always referred them to being A Classic Rock band with a modern flair! So many great songs to speak of and I do love “Shattered Heart” as it quite simply has it all ..that being said QOTMS was a conceptual album and a master piece at that!!

Absolutely love this, and am looking forward to part 2, do not keep me in suspense too long though. XXI Century Blood is one hell of a good album I listen to it all of the time.

Very interesting! Thank you for that video, as I didn’t knew how to categorize their music

They are a rock band. Straight up rock n roll. They don't need a label, they're unique in their own right. ⚡️🇲🇽👯‍♀️❤️🌟

I agree that it's subjective. As someone who grew up with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, three bands I would call hard rock (though I would never disagree with anyone calling Black Sabbath metal) but these bands often receive the metal label I know it's all up to the individual viewpoint.

This was a really great video - I like the quantitative approach & the demonstration of intervals was great at making your point crystal clear. I've considered The Warning as hard rock with strong metal undertones (diamond hard rock?) - but your video is now making me think that my definitions are fairly subjective. Also liked the references to some of the Iron Maiden-esque sound, I'd agree with that, too. I'm not to picky about how to characterize the band, I think the only argument about 'metal' vs 'hard rock' is managing expectations of new listeners. I've seen plenty of reactors being disappointed, calling The Warning 'too metal' even for songs that had me scratching my head, and I've seen a few self-proclaimed metalheads being deflated and saying the music isn't metal at all (though these folks seem to consider Gojira as pop...!!). But it sure is fun trying to find criteria to use and apply to the discussion!

What a great tee shirt "We don't argue with saint Lemmy"

Absolutely loved your balanced take on the girls. Music is so subjective that we can't say one is better than the next. Holier than thou doesn't work here. Can't wait for 2nd part. If you have half an hour to spare then I suggest you watch their 2018 Hell & Heaven Fest. They were 18, 16 & 13 then. Ale in pigtails with a bass as big as her. After listening to the first 2 bands The Warning realized their hard rock sound won't impress the death metal crowd in attendance. They went on stage as the 3rd group ready to run away if angry metalheads started throwing things at them. They played 7 songs in their allotted 30 mins. - Unmendable, Exterminated, XXI CB, Runaway, Copper Bullets, Dull Knives & Survive. The rest is history. As one person posted later - I thought I made a mistake with the schedule when these 3 little girls took the stage. It was the best mistake I made in my life. Recently a reactor classified them as pedestrian musicians with cliched lyrics that can only perform solidly on stage. More of a show than anything substantial. Interestingly quite a few Warning fans agreed. Stopping short of attributing their success to pretty faces. "Musicians & composers follow them for reasons other than their musicianship". "Spector gifted a 15 year old Ale a signature bass with commercial interest in mind rather than her technical skills". No wonder Wacken has invited them for 2024. In June 2023 they became the 1st Mexican / Latin American band in 20 years to be invited to German festivals at Rock Am Ring & Rock Im Park. Probably the same applied to Download fest, UK when the girls opened day 2 at 1p.m. on a side stage with a packed field of about 25K. Pretty faces indeed.

Thanks, Prof! Yes, we do not argue with Lemmy! \m/ I'd love it if we all could get away from genre labels, but it's still useful to help describe what a band is like. As some of the other commenters have noticed, lots of metalheads love The Warning! I love your comments on their songwriting structure - really seems like they try to keep us guessing, varying things from verse to verse, mixing it up with prechoruses and bridges, pretty sophisticated sometimes!

Interesting analysis. As a huge The Warning fan, I'll say that I consider them a hard rock band that dabbles in metal on occasional songs. It's actually a little disappointing that they don't do more "metal" stuff because they're *really* good it...but we'll see what the new album brings because they've been hinting that they are going to be experimenting with their sound on it. Plus the older they get, the more skilled they get, the more their voices mature, and the better they get. The huge leaps musically they've made in the last 5 years are absolutely astounding. Very interested to see what you say about QOTMS and Error.

My personal journey has been to learn to discard genre as a qualifying standard (and I'm certainly not alone in that). That's why artists like Jacob Collier and Ren are among my favorites today, even if they hardly let guitars carry their songs, which was kind of a requirement for me when I was younger. How else would I have known if a song was good? As for The Warning and metal: I've never really been into metal or all its subgenres. To quote Billy Joel: For me, it was still rock and roll. TW is a great rock band with three amazing young musicians, more than solid writing skills and great charisma on stage. They themselves don't seem too interested in one genre. And they certainly don't want to be cornered into becoming the saviors of rock music that some people want to make them out to be. The impression you get from them and their environment is that they are very interested ald learned young women, supported by an open minded group of experienced people around them. Thus the older they get, the more they'll probably transcend genre - and I'm looking forward to the ride. I wouldn't be surprised if they at some point in the next five years evolved into the next Radiohead or Talk Talk.

Most of their songs are hard rock/alternative rock with some ballads, but there's 2 songs that can be considered heavy metal: Queen of the Murder Scene and Dust to Dust

Duke Ellington solved these kinds of questions decades ago: "There are two kinds of music, good and bad." With very few exceptions, The Warning makes GOOD music. That's what kind of band they are.

Just saying that they are announced in Wacken 2014 means they are a really good band

Copper Bullet is absolutely the heaviest song from XXICB album and also my most favorite

I'm willing to bet Aerosmith has songs that contain Metal notes. Does anyone think of Aerosmith as a "Metal band"? The Warning have songs that approach a Metal sound. Their style and approach towards music is firmly gounded in Rock/Hard Rock.

Can't wait for the sequel on this one.

I've always liked bands in that grey area between hard rock and metal. some band are hard to classify like I've never quite decided which side of the line ghost falls on for example.

Very well done. Thanks.

Son increíbles no definen un estilo los combinan pop Hard rock Punk heavy metal grunge y más simplemente increíbles

Curiosamente black holes, siendo una balada rock, es una de las piezas que llevan como estandarte las chicas, ya que ha hecho mella en mucha banda metalera, su letra es muy profunda para muchos y afilada para otros. Saludos

Metal? No, well not in my definition Rock yes 100% Hard Rock yes sometimes My formative years were in the 70’s so my definition of Hard Rock might be skewed 🤪🤪

Great video! I love it! Let me tell you my views on this as an eighties kid. (This is going to be long...) 🙂 When I grew up, I found it very useful to have bands categorized into certain genres within the rock universe. There were so many new albums coming out each week, that you had to decide upfront, which might be interesting for you which not. If a new band was labled thrash, I knew it would sound like Metallica or Slayer, if it was labled Heavy Metal, I knew, I was expecting something like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. If it was calles Sleaze Rock, there would be sometthing like Gund 'n Roses or Dogs d'Amour, and if it was called Glam or Poser, it was like Poison or Tigertailz. I knew however, that these categories aren't boxes, but more like clouds, that intertwine, so a band could very well fit into several categories. Then there was this rather simplistic scheme of Hard Rock vs. Metal hovering above all this. From my point of view (which was shared with most people back then) Hard Rock was characterized by riff driven music with vocals on top, that were clearly the leading instrument. The voice carried the melody, the guitars added the basis with more or less complex riffs. In Metal all the instruments were more or less equal in their function. So the vocals could step back, take over rhythm duties or even miss, while guitar, bass or sometimes even drums took over the lead function/melody. That was much more complex and required more attention from the listener. You could easily listen to Hard Rock, while washing the dishes or so, while Metal was better to be listened to actively, like putting on your headphones, lay down and listen carefully. There was no differentiation if one genre was harder or heavier than another. Metal could be pretty soft and Hard Rock could be pretty heavy. As Metal demanded more attention and concentration from the listener, there were quite a few (Hard) Rock fans, who weren't into Metal as it did not fit their listening habits, while most Metal fans also liked Hard Rock, as riffing and melody leading vocals were also part of Metal (just not the only one). There were nearly no Maiden, Priest, Metallica etc. fans, who would have downgraded AC/DC, Motörhead or other bands for "just" being Hard Rock. So... The Warning. Do they have Hard Rock songs with a lot of riffing and melody driven vocals? Yes! Do they have songs, where the vocals step back and guitar, bass or drums take over the leading part? Yes! Will fans of AC/DC or Guns 'n Roses like them? Probably yes! Will Fans of Iron Maiden or Judas Prist like them? Probably yes as well. So, as I said before these categories are no boxes, these are clouds and from my point of view The Warning are somewhere in the intersection of both. You can call them Metal or you can call then Hard Rock. None will be completely wrong. However, certain songs like Queen of the Murder Scene or Disciple might be too complex for Hard Rock fans. This is not a good choice as background music while doing your maths homework for example. This requires attention. So I would never say, they are pure Hard Rock and I don't see, why some people insist, that they are not Metal at all. I suspect, that some people might have prejudices against Metal and just imagine brute males in studded leather jackets, when they think of it. But that's not true. Anyway, I can frankly say say, that I would recommend The Warning to anyone, who would define themselves as Hard Roch and/or Metal fans. Chances are high, that they might like them.

It's pretty easy it's rock and roll you can label it whatever you want

They are playing the holy grounds of metal next year! Wacken 2024!!

To be fair, Metal is subgenre of Rock, same as Rock and Punk, and of course it has several, several sub-genres of its own. All good stuff. XXICB is a punk-rock song. Actually, it's a straight up Offspring song (Coming for You off the top of my head).

The Warning are Metal like Van Halen and Rush are metal ... it just doesn't matter, it's GOOD!

They are hard rock band that grabs elements from several music Styles like metal even pop. But.... As we Mexicans say: "Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one!"

They are Rock&Roll, with a twist of Lime.

Thanks

They could be a Metal band. Like Band-Maid, they're achingly close - but neither are there yet.

hola! Buenos apuntes para señalar la diferencia entre algunos estilos de rock. Estoy de acuerdo contigo: la música de las hermanas se mueve en cada uno de esos distintos estilos. Viva The Warning!!🤘🇲🇽🤘🇲🇽🤘🇲🇽

The best songs of this band are the ones with a metal flavour. In fact, in their last album have turned into a metalized sound because they know that with a metal sound they are in the forefront of the rock/metal scenario, whereas with a pop sound they are just vulgar. And when Dani's voice sounds dirty and insolent they sound as a first ranked metal band worldwide. Metal metal and more metal!

Omg aun no hay segunda parte 😂😂 apenas vi esta primera parte hoy... Puedo esperar un poco... 😅

I will proudly and blindly say that the only source of any argument between the Warning fans is about the band's genre or classification. Personally.. I see the girls as a hard hitting, anthemic, melodic, guitar driven rock band that will unapologetically get a little bit of everything they like, combine them and make their own unique but familiar brand of rock. Their songs and albums will vary and I will be more than happy to see how they evolve as artists. They are phenomenal song writers that I can't even find a bad song and we already know how unfairly awesome they are live. This will be one heck of an adventure and it's just beginning. They came. They rocked. They conquered.

To me they are a Progressive, heavy rock band, with flares of metal.

The Warning are their own genre!

What hapened to the queen of the murder sceen rock or metal analysis? I was watching it last night but had to stop half way through as i was at work.

It doesn't really matter which genre you slot them into. They play bangers and that's all that matters.

Definitely not metal. A mixture of styles so far richest in hard rock but with some punk, pop, progressive, metal, and even folk mixed in at times.

When are you going to do part two