Armoured Angel
Angel Of The Sixth Order
[Warhead]
1. Whore Of Babylon
2. Eve Of Temptation
3. Seven Angels
4. Crucifiction
5. Gadarene Swine
6. Spear Of Destiny
7. Cervical Slut
8. Thy Blood Eterne
9. Carved In Sin (re-recording)
When ARMOURED ANGEL finally released their debut mCD (after two excellent demos and enjoying cult status among underground types for a couple of years prior, something which was brutally apparently at last years "Metal For The Brain" festival, in Canberra, Australia, when half of the crowd was yelling out "Madam Guillotine" [from their demo "Wings Of Death"] as an encore request.) in 1992, they represented the pinnacle in Australian metal. "Stigmartyr" was (and still is) one of the finest pieces of aggressive grinding doom death ever. A couple of years later, the Brothers Green and the Ugly Luck fellow released (an even better) "Mysterium", and oddly enough, the band was still effectively unsigned, choosing to release everything themselves, albeit signing over distro rights. This is probably the reason most people go "You mean Armored SAINT, right?", when one raves sentimentally about them.
Enter 1999 : the Green Brothers have pissed off to Britain or somewhere like that; Yuri Ward from co-Canberran champs PSYCHRIST has taken on guitar and vocal duties; they've got a new (non-singing) drummer in Steve Luff; and Glen "Lucy" Luck has more shit piercing his face than a Cradle Of Filth dartboard.
Even with such a drastic lineup change, its remarkable how much this sounds like the Armoured Angel of olde. Opening the disc, is "Whore Of Babylon", with its very tasty songwriting, somewhat ethereal guitar sound, and vaguely familiar riffing. Oh...and those vocals! You'd swear it was actually Joel Green (original singer) singing.
First suprise on the disc, would have to be the prog-Metal'ish riffs in "Seven Angels", with its memorable chorus, and killer *METAL* bridges, to and from brutal war metal (ala early Bolt-Thrower). Then come my two favourite tracks, "Crucifiction" : the former being highly energetic black thrash, ala Sodom (and reminiscent of Sydney-sider's Niflheim, I think), and the latter being the morbidly anthemic "Gadarene Swine", which gets my vote for song of the year, so far.
After that, you've got the haunting "Spear Of Destiny", with its blackmetal-laden riffing; the thrashy, "Cervical Slut", a cooler-than-cool Sodom-homage, which is destined to become a crowd favourite; and "Thy Blood Eterne", in traditionally fine Armoured style. (this review is getting quite lengthy, so excuse those brief descriptions.)
Finishing off with a livewire cover of one of their earlier tracks "Carved In Sin", originally released on the "Mysterium" mCD/EP; presumably so old fans can see the new A.A. have still got what it takes. They didnt need to, believe me. ARMOURED ANGEL are *back*. Lets hope the rest of the metal world gets to "discover" them this time around.
order it online at http://www.ausmetal.net/warhead/
© 1999 brett
2. Eve Of Temptation
3. Seven Angels
4. Crucifiction
5. Gadarene Swine
6. Spear Of Destiny
7. Cervical Slut
8. Thy Blood Eterne
9. Carved In Sin (re-recording)
When ARMOURED ANGEL finally released their debut mCD (after two excellent demos and enjoying cult status among underground types for a couple of years prior, something which was brutally apparently at last years "Metal For The Brain" festival, in Canberra, Australia, when half of the crowd was yelling out "Madam Guillotine" [from their demo "Wings Of Death"] as an encore request.) in 1992, they represented the pinnacle in Australian metal. "Stigmartyr" was (and still is) one of the finest pieces of aggressive grinding doom death ever. A couple of years later, the Brothers Green and the Ugly Luck fellow released (an even better) "Mysterium", and oddly enough, the band was still effectively unsigned, choosing to release everything themselves, albeit signing over distro rights. This is probably the reason most people go "You mean Armored SAINT, right?", when one raves sentimentally about them.
Enter 1999 : the Green Brothers have pissed off to Britain or somewhere like that; Yuri Ward from co-Canberran champs PSYCHRIST has taken on guitar and vocal duties; they've got a new (non-singing) drummer in Steve Luff; and Glen "Lucy" Luck has more shit piercing his face than a Cradle Of Filth dartboard.
Even with such a drastic lineup change, its remarkable how much this sounds like the Armoured Angel of olde. Opening the disc, is "Whore Of Babylon", with its very tasty songwriting, somewhat ethereal guitar sound, and vaguely familiar riffing. Oh...and those vocals! You'd swear it was actually Joel Green (original singer) singing.
First suprise on the disc, would have to be the prog-Metal'ish riffs in "Seven Angels", with its memorable chorus, and killer *METAL* bridges, to and from brutal war metal (ala early Bolt-Thrower). Then come my two favourite tracks, "Crucifiction" : the former being highly energetic black thrash, ala Sodom (and reminiscent of Sydney-sider's Niflheim, I think), and the latter being the morbidly anthemic "Gadarene Swine", which gets my vote for song of the year, so far.
After that, you've got the haunting "Spear Of Destiny", with its blackmetal-laden riffing; the thrashy, "Cervical Slut", a cooler-than-cool Sodom-homage, which is destined to become a crowd favourite; and "Thy Blood Eterne", in traditionally fine Armoured style. (this review is getting quite lengthy, so excuse those brief descriptions.)
Finishing off with a livewire cover of one of their earlier tracks "Carved In Sin", originally released on the "Mysterium" mCD/EP; presumably so old fans can see the new A.A. have still got what it takes. They didnt need to, believe me. ARMOURED ANGEL are *back*. Lets hope the rest of the metal world gets to "discover" them this time around.
order it online at http://www.ausmetal.net/warhead/
© 1999 brett