Armored Saint Offers Audiences A Solid Offering In Its Latest LP

By: Philip Sayblack | Phil's Picks

For those who maybe have not yet heard or read the latest news surrounding Armored Saint and Metal Church, the two veteran bands will launch a co-headlining tour this fall.  The tour is an ongoing effort in support of each band’s respective new album, each of which being positive in its own right.  Phil’s Picks already reviewed Metal Church’s new album, Dead to Rights recently so, for the sake of this review, the focus will turn to Armored Saint’s new album, Emotion Factory Reset.  Released May 22 through Metal Blade Records, the 11-song record is a presentation that will appeal to the band’s established audiences and even to some more casual listeners.  This is proven in part through its featured musical arrangements.  The lyrical themes that accompany the album’s musical arrangements make for their own share of interest.  The record’s production puts the finishing touch to the presentation, ensuring just as much appeal through the general effect as through the content.  Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of the record.  All things considered they make Emotion Factory Reset a successful new offering from Armored Saint.
Emotion Factory Reset, the brand-new full-length studio recording from Armored Saint, is a solid new effort from the band.  It is a presentation that the band’s established audiences will enjoy for the most part.  That is due in large part to the record’s musical arrangements.  From the beginning to the end of the 48-minute record, the arrangements exhibit a sound that is pure hard rock.  Right from the record’s outset, ‘Close to the Bone,’ what audiences get, for instance, is a solid composition that is just as comparable to works from Motorhead as to so many hard rock acts past and present.  At the same time it maintains its own identity complete with huge arena rock guitar solo and more.
The rhythm line that opens the album’s second track, ‘Every Man-Any Man’ is another strong example of the role of the album’s musical arrangements.  That bass line and solid time keeping conjure thoughts of various hard rock compositions that bridged the late 1980s and early 1990s, as – honestly – does the rest of the song.  Yet even with that semi-throwback approach, there is still a subtle modern touch that makes the arrangement its own solid work.
‘Hit a Moonshot’ has more of that hybrid 1980s/90s hard rock edge, as does ‘Buckeye,’ and…well…much of the record’s musical body.  The thing is that throughout the course of the record, the band manages to continue changing things just subtly enough to make things really interesting in each composition.  The result is a record whose musical body makes for a strong starting point for its overall presentation.
The lyrical themes that accompany the album’s infectious musical arrangements adds to the interest in their own way because they are fully accessible and familiar.  Case in point is the late entry, ‘Bottom Feeder.’  According to information found through research, the song, lyrically, is a familiar commentary on fake people; those self-serving individuals who live only to cause drama and make others’ lives miserable for their own entertainment.  The very line in the chorus stating, “Dinner bell/Call the bottom feeders/Get adrenaline and file in/Ring the bell/Call the bottom feeders/Your medication is ready/A new tragedy” makes that somewhat clear.  The bottom feeders are those negative people and the “dinner bell” is essentially a sort of metaphor for that signal that they sense to come in and feed on others’ positive energy, only to drain them as if they were feeding on them.  When they do, it gives them “adrenaline.”  It “fuels” them so to speak.  The fire in the arrangement, that “punch” that it delivers, works well with this chorus, helping to further illustrate the anger felt at those very people.  To that end, this song is just one prime example of the importance of the album’s lyrical themes.
On a more emotional note, ‘Buckeye’ is another powerful lyrical presentation here.  Allegedly, front man John Bush wrote this song as a tribute of sorts to his daughter ahead of her leaving for college in Ohio.  Every parent looks forward to the day that their child or children grow up and go off to college and become adults.  At the same time parents all dread that day because they have watched their children grow into those adults, loving them, being there for them through everything.  It is a difficult emotional moment and Bush does well to illustrate those mixed emotions.  He writes here, “Step by step/I’ve watched you take ‘em/From a toddler to a teen/On your new road if you’re fearful/You can rub eyes that came from seeds/Always have my hand/Even when we let go/Just temporarily/Stride through Ohio/A blank page to a tapestry/Release the payload of knowledge bombs/Run the race/It’s a marathon/A new generation who needs to align/Where you gonna be/The back/The middle/Or the front of the line/Under the buckeye/It’ll shade my girl/But let in sunlight/To grow that world/’Cause this life is lightning fast/Savor a kid’s eternal laugh/Under the buckeye/It’s got her back.”  Bush is telling his daughter that he will always be there for her even so far away from one another, reminding her, giving those words of wisdom to take the journey at her pace.  These are words of a father to his child.  It is something that every parent knows, while also reminding himself that she will be fine.  When this accessible and familiar theme is paired with the song’s semi-hair ballad approach, the whole makes the overall impact that much harder hitting and in turn another example of the strength of the album’s lyrical themes.
 ‘Throwing Caution to the Wind,’ another of the songs featured in the album’s second half, is yet one more example of the strength of the album’s lyrical themes.  In the case of this song, it would seem that the song is a message encouraging people to make the most of life each day. To carpe diem, if one will.  This is inferred as Bush sings in the song’s lead verse and chorus, “Today I left the concrete/For the vivid forest green/To open up the pathways/Dip my foot into the stream//Maybe there/I indulged in/Some garden trickery/Well/Was it benediction/Or some sort of witchery/Disguised/Made me paralyzed/I glance and look around/From the soil and mother dirt/Like a phoenix rising from the Earth/Now I should begin/Throwing caution to the wind.”  The song continues in similar poetic fashion from here and the message is the same.  From seeing “a new canvas to illustrate” to feeling “revitalized/Every choice precise,” the lyrical message here is one of hope.  It is uplifting.  And together with its equally engaging and entertaining musical companion, the whole makes the song’s message even more resonant and welcome.  When this theme is considered along with the others examined and that trio with the rest of the album’s lyrical themes, the whole therein makes clear just how important the overall lyrical content featured here in is to the album.
Rounding out the most import elements of Emotion Factory Reset is the album’s production.  From the beginning to the end of this record, the impact of the songs is complete.  That is due to the obvious attention that was paid to balancing each of the album’s songs.  From one song to the next, the vocals and the instrumentations compliment one another expertly.  The result is an aesthetic impact that makes the album just as welcome as its content.  To that end, all three elements combine to make Emotion Factory Reset a mostly successful new record from this veteran rock act that will appeal widely to audiences.
Emotion Factory Reset, the latest album from Armored Saint, is a successful new offering from the veteran rock act.  The nearly 50-minute record is a presentation that will appeal to plenty of audiences, as is evidenced in part through its musical arrangements.  The arrangements in question serve the album well what with their blend of vintage and more modern rock styles and sounds.  The lyrical themes that accompany the album’s musical arrangements add to the appeal because of their familiarity and accessibility.  The poetic fashion in which they are delivered builds even more on that, making for even more engagement and entertainment.  The record’s production puts the finishing touch to the presentation.  That is because of the positive aesthetic sense that it delivers through the balance of vocals and instrumentation in each song.  Each item examined is important in its own way to the whole of the album.  All things considered they make Emotion Factory Reset a positive new offering from Armored Saint and another welcome addition to this year’s field of new hard rock and metal albums.
Emotion Factory Reset is available now.  More information on the album and Armored Saint’s tour schedule is available along with all of the band’s latest news at:
Website: https://www.armoredsaint.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thearmoredsaint
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thearmoredsaint


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