The CD begins with an almost lush sounding keyboard instrumental, "The Tempest," that made me cringe slightly and pray for no more progressive metal. My apprehensions were a smidge premature for when the galloping guitars of "Faith In Steel" came rompling (yep, I made that word up!) from my speakers, I knew that fear was silly. This is metal, folks. Not nu-doom-stoner-death-prog-metalcore, but straight up wear your bullet belt kind of metal. It's Iron Maiden force filtered through Dragonforce.

7 tracks in we get a tasty instrumental entitled "Forged In Dragon Flames," which finds the band in tight top form. Thomas Preziosi's Basslines trounce and Chad Fisher and Joe Kurland's guitars shred, Tom Viera's drums sound like gunshots, all accented by the keyboard stylings of Peter Rutcho. It's nearly perfect. However when the album's title track hits us, it seems a bit overblown at a lengthy thirteen and a half minutes. I was starting to zone out but then then 2 bonus songs arrived, the first being a spot on renditon of the mighty Maiden's "Flight Of Icarus," Adam Kurland proving as he has this entire album that he has some pipes! Next is an exercise in the band's sense of humor as they dish out a whimsical "cover" of the music from "Dr. Wily," a villain from the videogame MegaMan.

So what's the verdict? This is a great metal CD. Is it earth shattering and blinding in its originality? No. Does that matter? Not to me. Good music is good music and I would rather listen to a hundred Armory clones than five minutes of Nickelback. Armory are a band that is not ashamed to wear their influences on their sleeves or their songs. They are passionate at what they do, and in an industry as homogenized as this, that is a refreshing trait.

Listen up Kiddies! Get yourself a bullet belt and a denim vest and buy a copy of this cd, then show your friend what metal was meant to sound like.

written by John Boden

Playing time: 69:48