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Armored Saint: La Raza
Armored Saint La Raza new music review

Armored Saint: La Raza

Melodic Heavy Metal/Hard Rock
Rating: 5.0/5.0

If you thought you knew metal legends Armored Saint, then I dare you to listen to their new album La Raza. This is not the seminal early 80's band from California that garnered massive underground, and slight MTV, attention back in the day. Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, Armored Saint had the talent to kick ass and take names. True metal heads and historians dig their albums like they love their first sleeveless denim jacket plastered with buttons and patches. Nevertheless, La Raza shows all the energy that Armored Saint had back then, but with an immense amount of brilliance and creativity for a new era.

After a first listen, I was ready to call La Raza progressive rock (slash) metal simply because of the generous amounts of rock and metal variation. I'm not sure how to classify this work. A song like La Raza moves equally between melodic rock, metal, and prog. Frankly, listening to Loose Cannon, Left Hook from Right Field or Chilled had me scratching my head. Somewhere between Aerosmith, GnR, and old school Armored Saint is 2010 Armored Saint. For another twisted loop of genres, Blues and Bandit Country both confound and mesmerize. Damn, whatever I think or expound, it's all good. Armored Saint's La Raza defies both their history and musical category. This is somewhere between genius and 'Frag you, we'll do what we want.' And I dig it. Get it!

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In Short

Armored Saint's La Raza defies both their history and musical category. This is somewhere between genius and 'Frag you, we'll do what we want.' And I dig it. This could be the best trad metal album of the year. Get it!

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