Armored Saint is one of those bands that just pops up with a new album once every 10 years or so. Unfortunately over their 25 plus year career these guys have never received the proper recognition they deserve. I remember being flabbergasted back in the middle eighties at their lack of acknowledgment their first two highly underrated albums “March of the Saints” and “Delirious Nomad” received. Both were great albums in my opinion and I still enjoy listening to them. Over the years a new album would pop up with little fanfare (with a slight exception of 1991’s “Symbol of Salvation”). Eventually vocalist John Bush went on to sing for Anthrax and bassist Joey Vera went on to join Fates Warning and Armored Saint went on hiatus. In 2000 the band re-emerged and release the very memorable “Revelation” CD and then went back into Hibernation. Ten years later the Saint has emerged once again with another album that is in my opinion their best CD yet.
In March of 2010 “La Raza” was released on Metal Blade Records and it is a no frills hard rock CD period. In many ways “La Raza” picks up right where “Revelation” left off. There is absolutely no evidence of a 10 year gap between the two CDs. The opening track “Loose Cannon” begins with a nice acoustic guitar and keyboard string introduction and about one minute and a half into the intro the song takes off into high gear and sets the pace for the remainder of the CD. Some highlights include “Get Off the Fence” and “Chilled” have a contagious and dominating groove to it while “Black Feet” has more of progressive feel to it; kind of reminiscent to older Porcupine Tree. There is no other way to describe the remaining songs other than the authentic ole Armored Saint sound.
“La Raza” is a must for any fan of Armored Saint and would probably appeal to those who are fans of the John Bush era of Anthrax. So far 2010 has been a solid year for new hard rock CDs and “La Raza” is definitely one of the best so far. This is a great CD! I would encourage you to get out and buy this CD and savor it because with Bush going back to Anthrax this just may be the last Armored Saint CD we get in a long time.
