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In 1991, the world of metal was definitely in a transitional stage, with the new sounds of the 90s about to take form and the classic 80s sounds headed for the wayside. One band who found themselves in transition during this time were the southern California heavy metalers, Armored Saint. The Saint were in the midst of recording their 4th studio album when guitarist Dave Prichard was diagnosed with leukemia and tragically passed away before the album was completed. This was incredible loss for the band; not only was Pritchard an incredible guitar player; he was also one of the original members of the band. Armored Saint, however, carried on and ultimately released Symbol of Salvation, the album that would be the pinnacle of their career, with Jeff Duncan replacing Pritchard on the axe. The final lineup for the album then contained: Phil Sandoval and Jeff Duncan on guitars, Joey Vera on base, Gonzo on drums and John Bush with the vocals.
The first thing one can tell when listening to this album is the amount of emotion that stems from it. You can tell that the band is absolutely playing its heart out for their fallen compadre.
The songwriting is of very high quality and contains several trademarks associated with Armored Saint music and then some. All of the songs are strong, and I really feel there is no weak track among them. There are many cool guitar riffs and excellently placed solos. The songs remain catchy without really sacrificing any heaviness. There are many different types of songs too-- from straight ahead thrashers to powerful ballads and everything in between. Personal favorites include the opening crusher “Reign in Fire”, “The Truth Always Hurts” (with its super catchy riff) and “Hanging Judge”. The highlight of the album definitely has to be “Tainted Past”. This is a song of epic proportions containing some lovely acoustic guitar work and meaningful lyrics. In fact, the song even features a solo from Pritchard, taken off a demo recording. Special mention must be given to the vocal efforts of vocalist John Bush. His melodic singing style fires up any listener to chant along passionately. It was after this album, in fact, that he would join Anthrax as its lead singer, although I must question if anything he has done in that camp has matched his efforts here. If you are at all of fan of classic 80s style heavy metal, I would definitely recommend this album. It is certainly the strongest all around effort in the Armored Saint catalogue. As history would have it, it would be another 9 or so years before we got to hear anything from them again, as John Bush left, and the rest of the members worked on various projects. In 2003 Metal Blade released a special 3-disc version of Symbol of Salvation, containing interviews and demo outtakes.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Reign Of Fire |
| 2. Dropping Like Flies |
| 3. Last Train Home |
| 4. Tribal Dance |
| 5. 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 |
: 57.03
| Buy other Armored Saint albums |
