Symbol Of Salvation

Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba

Artist: Armored Saint
Label: Metal Blade Records
Released: 2003
Length: 55:48
Rating: 4/5

And how did the shaken cavalry of knights of sound recover after the death of their main driving creative force, David Earl Prichard? It’s forged from orthodox, utterly sovereign metal parts, which make this posthumous tribute to the fallen guitarist way more than just a musical requiem mass. Symbol Of Salvation shows Armored Saint at their very best. There’s no shortage of devastating riffs, outstanding guitar solos and near-perfect heavy metal vocals. The evidence comes right away with the opening salvo of guitar parts on Reign Of Fire, which like shrapnel shatters any doubt that they might have lost their way. Jeff and Phil complement each other brilliantly, stacking up incredible riffs and solos into a monumental pile, which the firmly planted, slightly slowed-down Dropping Like Flies then builds on after the reign of fire. Singer John Bush opens up his pipes and shows off his huge vocal range in the manner of the genre’s best. The record goes from good to better with Last Train Home, which ranks among the top of the studio achievements on this album. Jeff’s musical baby is bursting with brand-new salvos of solos that he wrote as if his life depended on it. The song is sonically calibrated to go head to head with what Mother Love Bone or early Alice In Chains were putting out at the time, and it makes full use of the production potential of the owner of Tranzformer Studios, Mr. Dave Jerden, who by then had already left his mark on the aforementioned chained Alice as well as on early Jane’s Addiction. The song booms full and begs for a group sing-along, drowning out the catchy, simple chorus. The drumming talent hiding under the layers of guitars is proven by the percussion intro of Tribal Dance. A song tailor-made for Gonzo, Tribal Dance comes close, in its rhythm and its ties to some pretty effective, simple riffs, to a glam version of Igor Cavalera or Pantera in the era before Cowboys From Hell. As if Mr. Eddie Van Halen himself had stepped into the game, the slow Truth Always Hurts gears up for the big stages, and the experiment sounds like fun. A guitar instrumental of backwards-spun guitars with a greasy glaze of outstanding solos and dreamy bass proves on Half Drawn Bridge that the guitars have always been the saints-in-armor’s main trump card. Another Day sails in on acoustics, tender and full of sorrow, a song Prichard wrote with Bush to beg the gods for one more day on earth. The title track Symbol Of Salvation easily puts on the full war paint of a quality thrash classic. Mr. Bush, hats off for that outstanding gritty singing! “I’ve been waiting here for you all / What took you so long / Symbol of salvation / Who’s the symbol of Salvation / What’s the symbol of Salvation / Is honesty truly another word / For justice / Honesty is truly another slur / On justice” burrows into your brain and, like an eleven-inch bludgeon, drives straight into your cerebellum! Hanging Judge inspires a bit less, after a couple of riffs on Warzone some more heat and vigor flows back into the lungs, and Burning Question tops off the standards already heard with yet another example of Sandoval’s outstanding guitar chops, even if the lyrics don’t exactly give you much food for thought. The excellent Tainted Past pours into your ears the final swan song of the by-then-late guitarist, and the rhythmically agile bassist Joey Vera, who wrote the song, gets his moment too.

“The cynical view that has been taken / Is blowing my mind / I can’t seem to piece it all together / I guess it takes time to unwind / To let the dust settle / And let cooler heads prevail / Each and every day I rise / From the ashes I’ve left behind / To start anew push through / They say it’s not meant to be / Well I’m parting the sea” the vocals bring out of the speakers, and after the last, almost Floyd-esque excursion and the sound of cosmic guitar strings, we find ourselves at the very end of the regular part of this damn enjoyable record. Spineless bites into the listener with even more rage than anything so far on the record and sets new standards of sharpness for Armored Saint, and the rather clichéd lyrics don’t do too much harm to an otherwise very high-quality album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDBBb-CzCM0

The regular part of the first CD is behind us, and the second part of the full package, the 2003 reissue of the record, serves up a full measure of extra sweets. Besides four additional demo recordings and all the video material for the singles Reign In Fire and Last Train Home, what adds extra value is the fact that you can hear the truly last studio moments of Dave Prichard. A look into the band’s rich musical history, plus glimpses of life, work and legacy of this band that’s far less known than it deserves to be, comes in the form of an extensive audio recording of an interview with the band, in two parts, no less. It’s definitely a relic: for devoted fans a holy artifact in the collection, and for everyone else, the less fired up but no less music-devoted curious folks, it reveals a whole new angle for understanding Armored Saint. Despite forecasts and predictions, though, if we return to the original sin, the record Symbol Of Salvation, Armored Saint did not definitively cut off their shared stream of music-making. The release showed the band as a crew of people with their hearts and souls in the right place, and the album, tragedy notwithstanding, is a gleaming diamond in the crown of their output. The death of a friend and comrade-in-arms led to a temporary hibernation, during which John Bush replaced Joey Belladonna in Anthrax. Joey Vera became an indispensable part of the prog metallers Fates Warning and time rolled on, until 1999, when they announced a revival into a new life, less burdened by the past. From this new urge to create came the record Revelation, while the somewhat aged sound of the past quietly sank into the sea of oblivion. New era, new sound, new ideals, but in spite of it all Symbol Of Salvation remains one of the solid releases and a reminder of the grandeur of chrome-plated metal shine, and of the times when, in the world of music, musical chops, sparkling talent and an upright, firm will to push the boundaries of what’s been heard one step forward counted for more than posing, even if not everyone pulled it off!

Line-up

John Bush – vocals
Jeff Duncan – guitar
Phil Sandoval – guitar
Joey Vera – bass
Gonzo Sandoval – drums

– Dave Prichard – guitar solo on Tainted Past

Production

Dave Jerden

Track list

1. Reign of Fire
2. Dropping Like Flies
3. Last Train Home
4. Tribal Dance
5. The Truth Always Hurts
6. Half Drawn Bridge
7. Another Day
8. Symbol of Salvation
9. Hanging Judge
10. Warzone
11. Burning Question
12. Tainted Past
13. Spineless