Open Your Eyes was the second full-length album from New York hardcore band, Warzone – who originated in Lower East Side, Manhattan, United States. It was released in 1989 on Caroline Records and follows on from their first album, Don't Forget The Struggle, Don't Forget The Streets, the previous year.
Among the production team was renowned guitarist, Dr. Know, of the New York hardcore band, Bad Brains. One of the tracks, "Always – A Friend For Life", was a re-recording of a song from their debut EP, Lower East Side Crew, in 1987 – as was "We're The Crew" from their previous album.
The album was swiftly followed by a self-titled one in 1990, by which time the musical influences had started to shift. In 1994, Another Planet re-issued the album on the same disc as Don't Forget The Struggle... – something the label did with similar NYHC artists of the same era, such as Murphy's Law, Cro-Mags, and Leeway.
The racism theorists must have had a field day when they listened to the opening title track – one of Adolf Hitler's rallying rants – but some forty seconds in, their "hopes" are dashed as along comes a bomb and blows them to pieces.
Lyrically, the band further strived to distance themselves from the racist skinhead label which had haunted them from inception – "Racism – World History Part I" being a case in point. Other themes tackled oppression, "togetherness" and the sense of belonging to a bigger, extended family.
Musically, it was generally business as usual – straightforward NYHC with plenty of room for mosh indulgence. However, the first signs of musical experimentation emerged with little guitar "flourishes" appearing here and there.
Meanwhile, while the rest of the bands in the same scene were already heading towards a more crossover thrash stance – Cro-Mags' Best Wishes from the same year – the hair was getting longer and most of the members were beginning to take their instruments of choice a bit more seriously.
By 1990, the band took a further step towards metaldom with their self-titled album – also on Caroline Records – which Raybeez dismissed, saying he "felt pressured by band members who wanted to 'experiment' with their newfound Joe Satriani influences".
A return to more orthodox hardcore ways was to return later in the 1990s, however, with the band signing to Victory Records before the untimely death of Raybeez in 1997.
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