NMC #18 (ARMORED SAINT, THE SWORD, OVERKILL)

[Jon]

Week # whatever (11/7/10) by Jon, who must be in a metal mood?

 

 

 

Armored Saint - La Raza (March 2010)

 

 

1. Head On

2. Get Off The Fence

3. La Raza

4. Black Feet

5. Blues

 

It took me about five months to finally listen to this album after purchasing it on a whim. Back in '84 I picked up "March Of The Saint" and hated it so never bought an Armored Saint album again, until this year. This album totally smokes and is fighting for album of the year on my list. Now I've just gotta check out their back catalogue and see what I've been missing!

 

 

 

The Sword - Warp Riders (August 2010)   

 

 

1. Tres Brujas

2. Arrows In The Dark

3. Lawless Lands

4. The Warp Riders

5. Night City

 

Old school metal! Love this stuff, sounds like something from the 70's. Three albums from The Sword and they're all fantastic. Whip out the air guitar!

 

 

 

Overkill - Ironbound (February 2010)

 

 

1. Ironbound

2. Bring Me The Night

3. The Goal Is Your Soul

4. The Head And Heart

5. The SRC

 

Another album that took me awhile to finally unwrap and listen to. Well worth the wait, this is thrash as thrash should be. And they've been around for 25 years? You can't tell. Metallica, take note. 

 

 

You can listen to these fine, fine albums HERE 

 

[Scott]

Armored Saint...
I've never really looked twice at this band. I know nothing about them except their name and Ive seem them in the record stores, but Ive never given them any thought whatsoever. That just changed with this post. Wow! At least for what is posted here, they sound awesome! Zune Marketplace, here I come...

The Sword...
This album cover has caught my eye a couple of times, but not because its a cool cover, because its a retro-looking cover. Looks like something from the late 60's. I liked it though not enough to consider purchase.... yet... I liked all the tracks but Lawless Lands is the standout for me! I will give them another listen and I will take your advice and check out more of their stuff.

Overkill...
Speed/Thrash/Death metal is not my cup o' tea. I didn't like this, although there were moments where one could pick up on really cool riffage (The Goal is Your Soul, and The Head And Heart for example)...

2 out of 3 for me. Nice post!!

[TageRyche]

Scott - For Armored Saint, I recommend Raising Fear (the last CD to feature guitarist Dave E. Prichard who passed away) and Symbol of Salvation which may just be their masterpiece CD.

Overkill is not death metal, they are best categorized as thrash. And while their albums do tend to be hit or miss for me, I liked ReliXIV and Immortalis. But their greatest album ever is without a doubt The Years of Decay.

[Niels (Mod)]

Yep, this is Metal!!

ARMORED SAINT (Thumbs allmost up)

The singer reminded me a bit of Bruce Dickinson. I like it. The best song was "Head on", I think. Good guitar-riff.

The Sword (Thumbs allmost up)

This reminded me of early Black Sabbath, and I REALLY like this, only the songs sounds allmost the same, well in "style" anyway.

Overkill (Thumbs allmost up)

Now this surprised me. I didn't think, that I would like this, but I do. Only the singer sounds like Udo Dircksneider, and that's not good. They sound like a cross between early Metallica and Accept around 1982. If you want Metal, I think this is a good speed!!

Very good post, Jon!!

[Jon]

John Bush from Armored Saint also was the vocalist for Anthrax for awhile as well.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Armored Saint (Thumbs Up)

I have this one, but since I bought it I have only listened to the first couple of songs. I guess I'll have to change that, because I really like these samples. I gave 1 checkmark to each song I liked and a second checkmark to songs I really liked, and this album ended up with 7 checkmarks. All five songs have at least one, with Get Off The Fence and Black Feet each getting 2 checkmarks. Yeah, I have to listen to this whole thing. This is heavy with great guitar work without irritating my ears. The singer isn't great, but he isn't bad either. He has the best voice of the three vocalists represented in this NMC, in my opinion of course.

The Sword (Thumbs Even)

Dang, I have this one too. I think it's good, not great. I have no problem listening to it, but it's just not really sticking to me. The vocalist would be middle of the pack for this NMC.

Overkill (Thumbs Down)

This one's pretty straight forward for me...I don't like it. I've just never been a fan of thrash, and Metallica is about as thrash as I get, and I can't listen to them for very long before my old ears hurt. I'm definitely feeling my age.

[Jon]

Yeah, I kind of felt skimpy doing this since I know you have the Armored Saint and The Sword albums. Don't worry though, my next one you won't have any.

[RJhog (Admin)]

I'm listening to the Armored Saint CD today. I want to thank Jon for bringing it back to my attention. I had kind of forgotten about it, but that was a mistake. It's very good. Get Off The Fence is a freaking awesome song. It's definitely gonna be on my song of the year list...

[Jon]

Love that song!