(written by Islander)
“Can you take some clean singing with some sci-fi shred?” That’s the quick pitch I received for this premiere from the publicist for Dying Victims Productions. Prudence would have dictated that I listen before responding, but Dying Victims hasn’t steered me wrong, even if the steering (stylistically speaking) is kind of like what’s required for Formula 1 drivers racing through metropolises, so I immediately said yes, with fingers crossed that it wouldn’t be a mistake.
The reference to “sci-fi shred” was appealing, and so was the branding of Armory’s new album Echoes of the Astrolith as a “speed metal U.F.O.”. But while the name of our site is a bit tongue-in-cheek, not all the tongue is in the cheek. At least in the case of this writer, it’s more serious than joking. So, what had I gotten myself into? What are you about to get yourself into?
Those are open questions even for people who have consumed this Gothenburg band’s three previous albums and last year’s Black Star EP. The questions are open because the new album features a new lead singer, C. Rostoff (though he is also known from Steel Inferno), and a stylistic shift that the press materials describe as “a decidedly darker, heavier, and perhaps even eviler sound: speed metal, yes, but more blitzing, barraging, and RELENTLESS than ever”.
Today’s specific alien speed metal invasion is a song off the album named “Pillars of Fire“. We don’t know for sure what came first, the music or the song’s name, but you’ll discover that the title is a fitting one. Yet the pillar of fire doesn’t reveal itself in the song immediately. Instead, it opens with a slow guitar harmony that’s both eerily mysterious and emotionally unsettling, perhaps like the dread someone might experience in watching an unknown object approaching the planet from deep space.
Armory then stress the tension further with bursts of militarized musical violence and filaments of wailing and shivering melody that they augment with a heavily murmuring bass. You can feel the music building toward something, and then the song gives it to you.
As the drums hammer like a driven heart, the riffing becomes convulsive — rapidly writhing and feverishly trembling — and C. Rostoff makes a striking vocal appearance, as fiery as one might expect from the song’s title. The sound isn’t what some people would expect from the idea of “clean singing” — it’s an eye-popping cavalcade of wild yells, quavering cries, and rabid screams, and it’s entirely in keeping with the maniacal nature of the riffing.
The song is hot as fire already, but it continues heating up as crazed soloing flickers, darts, and screams toward the heavens. And with about a minute left the band veer into a new phase that’s sure to get heads banging. That serves as a prelude to another piercing solo that will again send shivers down spines. The pace then slows and the mood darkens in the song’s final phase, and Rostoff’s vocals hit remarkable heights — really singing, and really proving the power of his pipes.
No, as it turns out I made no mistake in agreeing to this premiere.
ARMORY is:
G.Sundin – Guitars
A.Holmström – Drums
N.Ingelman – Guitars
J. Lundin – Bass
C. Rostoff – Vocals
Echoes of the Astrolith will be released on October 23rd. It features cover artwork by Riccardo Bettazzoni. Dying Victims will release it on variant vinyl LP editions, on CD, and digitally, while Jawbreaker Records is offering it on cassette tape. Pre-orders are available now. And after the links we’re including previously released videos for the album’s two opening songs, “Return of the True Godz” and “Interceptor Squadron“.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.dyingvictims.com
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/echoes-of-the-astrolith
https://www.jawbreaker.se/
ARMORY:
https://www.instagram.com/armorysweden
https://www.facebook.com/armoryofficial