ARMORED SAINT — Symbol of Salvation (review)

ARMORED SAINT — Symbol of Salvation album cover Album · 1991 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Unitron
While the early 90's is most notable to me for a slew of grunge, thrash, techno, and hip hop classics, it is also the time of one of my all time favorite classic metal albums, Symbol of Salvation which shows a band at their peak and making the best of the best.

The whole album just goes off, firing all barrels with riffs, and delivering some of the best songwriting and melodic passion. There's a perfect contrast between all out heaviness and beautiful melody, and I find myself humming and singing several of these songs without them being played in a while. Reign of Fire, Dropping Like Flies, Tribal Dance, The Truth Always Hurts, Warzone, Tainted Past, and Spineless are these particular songs (though every song is heavy metal at its peak). Sometimes they go into a melodic thrash edge, like with Spineless or the swaggering groove of Tribal Dance.

John Bush has long been one of my favorite vocalists, and Symbol of Salvation hold what is among his absolute best performances. He's perfect at combining beautiful melodies and forceful badassery, and it's hard not to sing a long to Reign of Fire or scream a long to Tribal Dance. Whether Armored Saint or Anthrax, he's always giving his all and screaming with passion.

In short, this is a fantastic heavy metal album that deserves the same classic status as the likes of Judas Priest and Accept.
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