Armored Saint Play an Exclusive Club Show at Zagreb’s Močvara

performers: Armored Saint, Flesh
date: Saturday, November 10, 2018
location: Zagreb, Močvara, Croatia

Anyone remember the cult old school metallers from Los Angeles, Armored Saint? Unbelievable. They dropped by a stone’s throw from Ljubljana, in the Croatian capital Zagreb, the day before St. Martin’s Day. It was a Saturday. They had just nine European dates on the schedule, and on top of that, they played the entire album “Symbol of Salvation” at every one of them, the one that came out way back in 1991. On top of the full “Symbol of Salvation” they threw in a few goodies from the first three albums and tucked in a track or two from the current “Win Hands Down”, and a true fan of old school metal could only light up with anticipation and joy.

At the Zagreb show, so with just eight dates left, Armored Saint line up for the so-called “Symbol of Salvation” set like this: John Bush (vocals), Joey Vera (bass), Phil Sandoval (guitar), Gonzo Sandoval (drums) and Jeff Duncan (guitar)! A mini club spectacle, of course. Nothing outrageously over the top, but still a completely exclusive affair.

The warm-up duty fell to Zagreb heavy metal matadors Flesh. The trio, active since 2004 and holding a self-titled debut studio album released in 2014, proved to be a very fitting choice. A very tight combo, and the trio had no shortage of confidence or composure. Excellent chemistry between them, and you can feel the mileage and experience. The band won people over with heart and razor-sharp focus. Solid conditions helped Flesh make the most of their half hour or so of stage time and convince everyone that these are heavy metal revivalists who don’t bring a musical revolution, but whose phrases have a well-crafted, distinctive character that, with fiery solos and furious vocals, melts into a catchy stroll through the legacy of heavy rock, the N.W.O.B.H.M. movement and the old school of classic Priest riffing. Flesh are also hugely successful at filling the available space, considering there are only three guys on stage: a bassist and vocalist, a drummer and a guitarist. A band that knows what it’s doing and what it wants.

Armored Saint delivered an excellent repertoire and a longer set than anyone could have expected. It ran nearly two hours. The crowd came to around 250 heads, but hot and fired up. The band struck in pure old school style with the charging March Of The Saint (March of the Saint, 1985) and the crowd went wild and started tearing off its chains! Unbelievable excitement. The band made no secret of how good they felt, and they built up the atmosphere gradually with a “Delirious Nomad” classic, Long Before I Die, quickly followed by Chemichal Euphoria (“Rasing Hell”, 1987). The air in Močvara had been heated to just the right temperature, and John Bush and the rest of his Armored Saint buddies then got down to performing the album Symbol of Salvation. The central act of the evening was accompanied throughout by a roaring, frenzied crowd, which, packed into the front rows, proved that the album’s lyrics are very much second nature to them. The chemistry kicked in, and that massive euphoria from the crowd carried the band, quite literally, on its wings.

Armored Saint are used to club shows and feel right at home in venues like Močvara. There’s no need to stress that they play superbly. Everything clicked. Performance-wise, everything. John Bush keeps an enviable range and convincingly nailed the vocal performance. The high and the very highest notes served him well. Then there’s the legendary bassist Joey Vera, who played Orto bar in Ljubljana with Fates Warning this past January. Alongside Bush, who is known for singing with Anthrax, Vera is surely the biggest name in the lineup. Once again he rattled and dug into his bass with intensity, both guitarists shone with fine-tuned soloing, and Gonzo held the songs together with cannon-fire swings.

Only one thing didn’t click. The sound. It was awful; honestly, I can’t remember the last time my head was ringing from a gig all the next day. A true sound purist, not burdened by Armored Saint fandom, would have headed home from a show with this kind of sound in an instant. That was also the main reason the concert experience got a black mark. Bad sound, in short. Despite the otherwise excellent club atmosphere, the sound conditions were dismal. The riffs roared, the solos were hard to make out, and in all that muddle Bush was at times barely audible at all.

Anyway. Meeting this cult lineup was sweet, and that makes up for absolutely everything! “Symbol Of Salvation” is an exceptionally strong album, and the crowd, which had clearly studied it thoroughly and made it their own, rescued individual songs with sheer intensity, since the involvement of the revived audience took priority over the fact of the bad sound and thankfully pushed it into an “inferior” position. In the first encore the band initially wove in the title track of the current album “Win Hands Down”, followed by two more March of the Saint classics, Can U Deliver and the expected Mad House. Just when it seemed the show was over, the roaring, insatiable crowd summoned Armored Saint back to the stage once more, and the guys tackled one more “Delirious Nomad” number called Nervous Man, wrapping up their Zagreb show. We can say they delivered their optimum. All in line with expectations. A real show for the band’s fans. An excellent repertoire. A true fan of the band got their money’s worth. Only the sound spoiled the overall impression, but otherwise, no complaints whatsoever.

author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik

setlist:
1. March of the Saint
2. Long Before I Die
3. Chemical Euphoria
4. Reign of Fire
5. Dropping Like Flies
6. Last Train Home
7. Tribal Dance
8. The Truth Always Hurts
9. Half Drawn Bridge
10. Another Day
11. Symbol of Salvation
12. Hanging Judge
13. Warzone
14. Burning Question
15. Tainted Past
16. Spineless
—encore 1—
17. Win Hands Down
18. Can U Deliver
19. Mad House
—encore 2—
20. Nervous Man