Could have been excellent with a different vocalist - A review of Armored Saint's Punching the Sky

There are gifted singers who have a unique, memorable and charismatic vocal style that one could easily identify among many others. However, some of these singers are somehow unable to capitalize on their natural talent and always sound exactly the same. It doesn't matter whether they perform a power ballad, a fast heavy metal tune with thrash metal elements or an atmospheric epic, they always employ the exact same approach and manage to make even the most diversified song writing sound exchangeable or even boring at a certain point. In my opinion, this is the case for the overrated one-trick pony Ronnie James Dio, his equally limited imitator Jorn Lande and obviously Armored Saint lead singer John Bush. It's obviously a matter of taste and many people might actually disagree with me and even claim that said singer is the greatest singer thrash metal veterans Anthrax have ever had. I couldn't disagree more and find Anthrax's lifeless alternative rock releases from the mid-nineties to the early years of the millennium average at best and dreadful in most cases. That's not only due to at times uninspired song writing and stylistic shifts but also and perhaps mostly to the singer. Armored Saint's Punching the Sky sounds better than those releases because the song writing is much more inspired but the vocalist keeps this album from unfolding its full potential in my ears. His repetitive, predictable and forced style made it difficult for me to sit through the entire release in one single try. With a more diversified, inspired and passionate singer, this album would easily be better than above average and could certainly be considered very good.

Aside of the vocals, there are several songs that offer very interesting instrumental performances. The epic opener ''Standing on the Shoulders of Giants'' convinces with heartfelt Uilleann pipes sounds, dreamy guitar play and tribal drum patterns that evolve into an epic modern heavy metal tune. ''My Jurisdiction'' builds up a gloomy and menacing atmosphere with sinister bass sounds and low almost grunge-inspired guitar sounds. ''Fly in the Ointment'' surprises with eerie sound effects that clash with melodic guitar play in an experimental power ballad. The elegiac and slow ''Unfair'' once again recalls grunge and alternative rock stylistics from the nineties in an moody and profound way. The song playfully tricks you into expecting it to explode anytime but interestingly meanders to slow things down and accelerate at unexpected moments. This track feels like a nearly cinematic rollercoaster ride where the skilled song writing shines through at all time.

As you can read, Armored Saint's song writing, diversified style and instrumental performances are very good and even reach excellence in the record's best moments. However, the tiresome vocals harm the final result significantly and make what might otherwise have been a candidate for one of the best albums of the year a quite mixed bag. Now, if you really admire John Bush because his unique vocal style is your kind of thing, then please listen to this album and you will most certainly enjoy it at its fullest. In my case however, the vocals prevent this album from sounding very good to excellent and make it only a good average record. I'm certainly no fan of bands rerecording their music in general but if this album or even parts of it were ever performed with a different singer, I would most certainly give it a try again.

Final rating: 70%