Armour - Armour (2010)

After listening to this release for a few times I started to wonder if I had accidentally downloaded the wrong promo album. I never expected for this band to have such a traditional Heavy Metal sound (the cover gave it away, but you still won’t expect it). Hailing from Finland, this band got a third place on a nation wide TV competition for demo bands.

Featuring a healthy dose of traditional Heavy Metal in their influences, the band is great at playing this genre. You will never expect that they formed only in 2006 and that this self-title album is their first full-length. The enigmatic Vince "Werewolf" Venom is the band’s vocalist as well as the vocalist for countless other bands that play very different styles, like Black Metal with Satanic Warmaster

Behind all of these interesting facts, Armour’s music speaks for it self. The band is heavily influenced by legendary bands like Dokken, W.A.S.P, Accept and many others. And they do a great job a combining all these great influences and owning them. With the vocalist sounding like the bastard child of Brian Johnson and Udo, you know you are in for a good dose of Heavy Metal.

Musically speaking the band excels in every direction, all instruments are greatly handled and the song-writing abilities are top notch. The guitar riffs and solos are catchy and epic, just like in the good old days. The drumming is also very tight and makes the songs flow nicely.

All 10 songs in this album are very solid and will make you want to start rocking out in any place you start listening to them. It’s hard to name a favorite but “Can’t Resist Your Spell” takes the top honors for us.

This self-title debut album has been re-released by Hell’s Headbangers for the American audiences, and I strongly recommend you to pick it up. We think that this band has a great and promising future if they continue to rock out like if it was the earlier days of Metal.

Release: March 5th, 2010

Country: Finland