Raising Fear

March of the Saint and Delirious Nomad were hardly albums that were infested with stinkers, but it was Raising Fear that really brought the band to the next level, a record I listen to without ever wanted to skip anything, one that ramped up my excitement level considerably. This is all due to the better songwriting, this thing is packed with tracks that embed themselves instantly into my memory and have not vacated even once, through the grunge years, the extreme metal onslaught, the modern era in which there are 500 albums released every week...this is another of those latter-80s gems which shall be forever be enshrined in my collection as long as I can carry it...my mind as long as it can hold a thought. It's not flawless, and it's not even the best Armored Saint album, but certainly another contender during a year already choked up with timeless classics. Ironically, it would be their major label swansong, before they moved over to the more appropriate Metal Blade roster.

The title track just blasts off, with some of the faster and more intricate riffing the band had mustered to its day, little guitar leads running up and down the intro while they chug into John's verses. Though the mix on this album is actually a little inferior to those before it, the songs more than compensate, and when Bush hits that chorus and shifts it up, I was just blown over. This is definitely a qualifier for the USPM niche, as some of their songs will be again the future, I'm not sure if the band is always equated with that style, but I think this one fits with the constant momentum and steadier use of the bass drum, that and some of the guitar licks feel similar to the stuff Riot and Sanctuary would be putting out shortly after this album dropped. Following this with the Lynyrd Skynyrd cover seems a risky choice, but "Saturday Night Special" is dirty and groovy and once again, Bush nails it with the vocals, and it kind of shows more of that transparency for the hard rock roots that have never abandoned Saint. That's the weird thing, this cover wouldn't have sounded out of place on any of their albums, whether the debut or any of the more modern releases, even Punching the Sky.

But can that compare with hooky, killer originals like "Out on a Limb", "Chemical Euphoria", or "Crisis of Life"? Not exactly, and tracks like these are where the real strength lies. The riffing has definitely gotten more interesting, the choices catchier and the intensity more consistent as they find themselves more directly competing with the harder thrash sounds of their Californian scene and beyond. These guys don't have the hyper-melodicism and anthemic sound that the European power metal bands were starting to unleash, and they don't have screamy Rob Halford vocals, so they would hang in there by just writing bad ass, relatable tunes with unquestionable energy. Just listen to how nasty and awesome "Human Vulture" is, I remember one of the 'cool' older metalheads from my high school, who I envied for his great taste and long locks, had a t-shirt for this song, and it was inspiring. But there are no cuts on Raising Fear that I ever want to skip, the hooks are as fresh as they were when it released, and even though I don't find the production the best of their discography, it's still clear and potent enough to drive all of its 52 minutes of content home.

My appreciation for this album has indeed grown since it released, which puts it on a similar trajectory to its predecessors, only I started out having this one in a higher regard. As I hinted above, it's not the best of their works for me, but it's certainly worthy of the silver medal in their catalog, and one I'll happily keep listening to even when they're feeding my all my meals through a tube. Was also cool to see a knight-like character from the debut return, to seismically smash up Los Angeles like one of their earthquakes, palm-tree oases and all hurling through the debris as the electric-charged, spiked titan wreaks as much as havoc as this album does to my brain. Great shit.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Today’s album is by a little-known American heavy metal band hailing from Los Angeles, California named, obviously, Armored Saint. Armored Saint play a traditional brand of metal that, like their contemporaries in the burgeoning thrash movement, was heavily influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Unlike other bands in their scene such as Metallica and Slayer, they never really took the “let’s push this sound to the extreme” approach that helped birth thrash metal. Of course, that’s not to say Armored Saint never picked up the pace, of course. They have blistering numbers on all their albums, and played at typical post-Judas Priest metal tempos. Heck, you just need to listen to the first twenty seconds of this album to see that.

Armored Saint are probably best-known as the original band for singer John Bush, who, according to metal scriptures, was tapped early on by Metallica as a possible vocalist before James Hetfield became comfortable as the band’s frontman. Bush also went on to serve as the third vocalist for another Big 4 thrash band, Anthrax, serving as the replacement for Joey Belladonna during the band’s groovier, grunge-influenced period until 2005 and, for a little bit, in 2009-2010. Sidenote: he joined Metallica onstage during their 30th anniversary shows to do The Four Horsemen and it’s actually pretty rad, in case anyone is wondering how that would’ve sounded.

Raising Fear is the band’s third album and their first as a four-piece after guitarist Phil Sandoval left during the recording of their previous album Delirious Nomad. The album is made up of ten songs running just over forty-seven minutes. One of the songs, Saturday Night Special, is a Lynyrd Skynyrd cover. Rather than simply redoing the song in its original arrangement and style with harder guitars, the band does a complete makeover to fit their style better.

Let’s talk about style. The band is a traditional heavy metal outfit and while they obviously sound influenced by what was going on in the UK in the early 80s, they also manage to take the influences and make them their own, such that the music doesn’t sound extremely European. This kind of traditional sound was somewhat uncommon in the US at the time, as most metal bands either leaned toward poppier, more mainstream sounds or did the exact opposite and went digging for the fastest, heaviest, darkest, most extreme sounds they could. While this album never shows any leanings toward the former, they do show the same sort of speed metal tendencies as earlier heavy metal bands on songs such as the title track and Chemical Euphoria.

The songwriting on the album is pretty strong. The riffs are pretty great and never seem too repetitive or boring. The solos are electrifying and fit the songs really well. The vocals, as per the John Bush standard, are excellent. It’s easy to see why other bands wanted him. His voice is strong, confident, and, while it may not be the widest-ranging and most operatic, has the sort of grit that you can only dream of having in this kind of old-school, traditional heavy metal environment.

And the band aren’t one-trick ponies either. Not only can they speed up, they can also slow down. And not only can they slow down, they can get downright somber, like on Isolation, a great track about, well, isolation. And they sound good doing it, just as they sound good on the more energetic and frantic songs. Excellent vocals, great riffs, awesome solos, and a capable rhythm section make this an overall a good piece of heavy metal. Highlights include Raising Fear, Isolation, Human Vulture, and Chemical Euphoria.

Originally posted at: http://arocknrolljournal.blogspot.com

Raising Fear is the last out of the Saint’s Chrysalis Records releases, and to some fans, it’s possibly the weakest out of the band (even members agree). While Delirious Nomad was a near flawless entry, Raising Fear is a lot more flawed, but that doesn’t make it terrible, either. It’s the more “thrashy” out of the Saint catalog, namely due to the faster paced tracks and four-piece lineup this time. However, I will agree – Raising Fear is rather weak for the Saints, though it could’ve been way worse.

The album does a fairly good job sucking you in, but it’s not as vicious compared to Delirious Nomad. Raising Fear is one hell of an anthem, there’s a decent cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Saturday Night Special, there’s the alright Out On a Limb, which has a more down-and-out feel with its grooves, then there’s Isolation, a ballad that’s actually one of the album’s better songs, and then there’s Chemical Euphoria, a track that keeps the riffs wobbling. Crisis of Life is also one of the album’s better songs, being more groove-oriented than Out On a Limb. Frozen Will/Legacy is a surprising track, and it has some very well done solos and has a pretty decent fantasy feel going for it. Human Vulture is a gritty track that is reminiscent of Delirious Nomad’s own songs in a way, and is probably one of the best songs in the album in contrast to Isolation and Crisis of Life. Book of Blood is unique and feels like some sort of political anthem, Terror seems like the opposite to Symbol of Salvation’s Warzone, and Underdogs closes with some catchy solos.

The songs aren’t just as strong this time around, from the lyrics to the composition. They were all…weaker. They’re not awfu However, what almost made me want to bump the rating up for this was the cover art. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. Raising Fear has one of the best metal album cover arts I’ve seen in a long time. A triumphant, battle ready, titan-sized knight popping out of Mount Lee and ripping apart Hollywood Hills. If Godzilla was the result of nuclear testing, then this Armored Saint was caused by heavy metal mania. Overall, Raising Fear is, indeed, a weak entry into the AS catalog. Sure, it’s a lot weaker and has the lesser memorable songs, but it’s certainly not the worst album either. I still think the cover’s awesome, though.

Who can forget the fantastic "Can U Deliver" video from these American metallers? I won't be one of those. Armored Saint is of those bands that, during the '80s, had everything to become big, but always failed to reach major success. Their four albums before John Bush's departure to Anthrax were excellent examples of impeccably crafted '80s metal, sometimes reminding of Judas Priest, but still retaining a good amount of personality. Skilled musicians, good productions, and John Bush's impressive voice gave the music that extra thing that could have taken them to higher levels of popularity.

What did exactly fail? Who knows? This seems to be the story of many other great bands during that magical decade, but I presume that Chrysalis Records had something to do with that (I've never seen a metal band succeed under their wings). So anyone liking classic heavy metal would find any of Armored Saint's albums highly enjoyable (at least during their classic period), and I would say that I have a slight preference towards this concrete one and its successor, "Symbol of Salvation".

"Raising Fear" kicks off with the title track, probably the fastest song of the album along with closer, "Underdogs", but this is not going to be the tendency during the whole record. Pounding headbangers such as "Chemical Euphoria" (one of the best here), "Book of Blood", and "Terror" are classic '80s metal with a slight commercial vibe (along with "Saturday Night Special", "Out on a Limb") and everything is topped with the fantastic "Isolation", which can be categorized as the ballad of the album, although it later ends up becoming a really intense mid-tempo song. If you have already heard them, you know what you'll find, but if you haven't and you like your heavy metal pure and unaltered, Armored Saint is for you.

Originally written for Ample Destruction 'zine.

John Bush has always been an underrated vocalist. Being more known for his time in Anthrax, many people do not know how good he really is. In Armored Saint is where he truly shined and "Raising Fear" is a great example of how mesmerizing his voice his. After two solid outputs, "Raising Fear" is the third album from the LA quintet as it successfully combines the fast tempo offerings heard from the first two and adds some more mid-paced and heavy riffing from Dave Pritchard and Phil Sandoval.

One of the strong points of Armored Saint is their ability to write addicting riffs. Most of them are catchy and easy to headbang to and excels at drawing the listener in. The snarling mid-paced riff to"Crisis of Life", the evil sounding riff to "Terror" and "Human Vulture" all have that opening riff that is attention grabbing and lasts throughout the entire song. They all have that edge and heaviness a metal riff needs and are one of the reasons why these songs are winners.

Now it is always good to have good guitar work, but John Bush puts the album over-the-top. The man sings his balls off the entire record. The energy he brings and the vigor he bursts out into each note is incredible. Whether it is thrusting short bouts of notes in "Crisis of Life", menacingly spewing words in "Terror", or pumping up the energy in "Chemical Euphoria", Bush nails the notes on everything found on here.

The best cuts found on here are the above mentioned "Chemical Euphoria" and "Book of Blood." The speed on "Chemical Euphoria", the strong chrous, and the blazing solo make this highlight. "Book of Blood" is rather unconventional with a brooding intro of creepy high guitar notes erupting into a full-blown riff eventually leading to a majestic slow down of John Bush preaching of the Bood of Blood and then building up back to the main guitar part. It is a kickass song and makes one want to shout out with vocals.

The album loses some steam with the clunker "Frozen Will/Legacy." The main riff doesn't work well and the whole song seems to be a bit rushed and not thought out properly and does not have a good buildup to the meat of the song. "Isolation" is another one of the slower ballad types that just fails to be interesting and lifeless, but that is what the skip button was invented for. "Underdogs" is also rather dull as a closer as it is just a standard up-tempo song with nothing to really get hyped for.

Other than the three songs just mentioned, "Raising Fear" is an awesome display of some ball-out heavy metal songs showcasing the great musicianship of Joey Vera, the Sandovals, Dave Pritchard, and the one and only John Bush. It definitly beats anything Bush era Anthrax did. Any fan of pure heavy metal would enjoy this and the rest of Armored Saint's output with "Raising Fear" being near the top of the list.