758. Armored Saint / March of the Saint. 1984. 3.5/5

Armored Saint are a band I only came upon following John Bush returning to the fold having made his exit from Anthrax, not through any deliberate ploy to avoid them, but because they just hadn't come across my radar before. Since then I have enjoyed their music, while finding that they do not completely satisfy me with their style of metal/hard rock. The potential however can be heard from the start, which March of the Saint is.

This has all of the right attributes to be a terrific heavy metal album, but does tend to come across as a bit lighter than it should. It is caught somewhere between wanting to be an out-and-out heavy metal album, or one that is heavy but still accessible to the commercial market. Certainly the production makes it feel this way, which is supported by comments made by John Bush and Joey Vera a few years ago. This is fairly obvious in most of the songs, that you reach a point where you really expect it to delve into a heavy riff or riffs, but it continues along at a far more subtle lineage. This only hampers the album for those that are looking for more grunt that is available. The album itself is still terrific, but to me it feels as though something is missing, that something has been lost.
In some ways this does also allow John Bush's vocals to get a bit lost in the mix, and not fully utilise what is available. Because the music is "lighter" than what I would class a metal album, it leaves the vocals at times sounding reedy and unfinished. If the songs had had more grunt to them, it would have allowed the vocals to meld better with the music, and help produce a heavier album. If the lines of lyrics didn't finish so often with the vocals in an upward inflection, and instead brought them down to help drag those riffs into a heavier mode, I feel it would have worked even better. Am I being overly picky here? No doubt. And what would I know about the whole process? Nothing at all. No doubt my opinions could be argued down with ease.

Despite my perceived objections, I really like this album. It starts off in wonderful form with the terrific "March of the Saint", followed by the excellent "Can U Deliver" and "Mad House". All these three songs have great melodies, good solo spots and march along at a good pace. Other songs such as "Seducer" and "Mutiny on the World" I would include in the better songs of the album. I'm not so taken with songs such as "Take a Turn" which moves far too close to the power ballad for my liking without actually turning completely to the dark side.
This is still a better than average album which I enjoy, but you can also perceive some of the reasons why the band was unable to break through to superstar status.

Rating:  Shout the truth, metal's here to claim the day.  3.5/5

Armored Saint - March of the Saint - Full Album on YouTube