Armour Armour
by Derric Miller
Staff Writer
Tankard is going to be jealous when they hear “Heavy Metal Drinkers” from Armour’s new self-titled release. Hailing from Finland, Armour plays a dirty, retro brand of Traditional Metal that is irreverent, funny, but most of all, heavy. Led by lead singer/guitarist Vince Venom, whose vocals sound similar to the legendary Eric Wagner (Trouble), they own a unique sound you just don’t hear from a band formed less than a couple decades old.
Finland is known for more polished bands like H.I.M., so think of Armour as their exact opposite. Beginning with the uber-repetitive “Rock ‘n’ Roll Tonite,” you get a pared down version of NWOBHM, if that’s possible. Armour mixes their NWOBHM influences with American bands like KISS, though, so it’s a much more user-friendly, Arena Rock version of NWOBHM. Drummer Johnny River goes ballistic before the guitar solo from Mike Slutz, and there’s something mildly Spinal Tap-ish about this composition — in a good way.
“The Time is Right” begins with an ‘80s power riff, and carries more melody than the opener. Of course, Venom, with his shredded vocals spewing forth the notes that are mostly on key, it’s not all that melodic. The chorus features gang vocals, and hell, this is as old school as Loudness. Armour definitely isn’t influenced by Hinder, Seether or their homogeneous ilk.
As some of the band’s members are actually from a Black Metal background, “Satan’s Knights” may be expected. This is the fastest song on the release, with River an absolute machine all the way through. Armour, because of Venom’s vocal style, gets compared to UDO and Accept, and that’s pretty fair on “Satan’s Knights.” This is probably Slutz best guitar solo also, as the solos tend to blast you instead of playing anything elongated or varied, like here.
By the time you get to “Magick Armour,” “Hellfire” and “Ready to Attack,” you’ll realize Armour doesn’t have a lot of facets to their style. Many of the songs are paced the same why, the vocal passages are sung the same way (with often the same notes), and the songs run together. For some listeners, this inflexibility may cause them to stop paying attention.
It all ends on “Heavy Metal Drinkers,” and it’s a great one. With fevered riffs and blasting drum fills, Armour saved the best for last. The intricacy in the guitar leads takes a step up, and the shouting backing vocals is sheer fun. It’s like WASP’s “Blind in Texas,” but more steroid-fueled and rabid.
Armour is an interesting band, to say the least. If you are a fan of the more traditional style of Metal, no frills and just straight-ahead at all times, Armour is your band. Next time out they might want to mix up the vocals so Venom can sing lower and stray out of his frantic falsetto grinding vocal style, but they also have to keep the fire for playing this style of music and not lose that as well, because that’s what makes Armour worthwhile.
Label: Primitive Reaction
Online: http://www.myspace.com/metalarmour
Track listing:
1. Rock’n’roll Tonite
2. The Time is Right
3. Sex Demon
4. Roll Out (Or Get Rocked)
5. Satan’s Knights
6. Can’t Resist your Spell
7. Magick Armour
8. Hellfire
9. Ready to Attack
10. Heavy Metal Drinkers
Hardrock Haven rating: 7.1/10