Armored Saint
Who Are The Top 20 Metal Bands Of All Time?
Depends who you ask and how they define who is metal or just hard rock. For example, many agree that Metalica, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest are metal, but KISS, AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses are not metal.
That is how the authors of the new book ‘The Merciless Book of Metal Lists‘ see it in one of several indexes they compiled for this release set for April 9, 2013 by Abrams Image.
Howie Abrams and Sacha Jenkins’ book features numerous compilations of bests (songs, guitarists, album covers featuring goats) and worsts (embarrassing metal videos, metal fashion faux pas’).
80′s metal fans will also surely appreciate unconventional lists such as: ’10 Reasons Why EVERYONE Loves Slayer’s ‘Reign In Blood” and ’10 Accomplishments Iron Maiden Would Never Have Achieved had Paul Di’Anno Remained Their Singer’.
One of the lists sure to spark some debate is ’20 of the Greatest Metal Voices.’ They nailed the top three (my opinion) and Queensryche’s Geoff Tate certainly deserves a top five appearance:
1. Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Dio)
2. Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
3. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
4. Eric Adams (Manowar)
5. Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche)
6. King Diamond (Mercyful Fate, King Diamond)
7. Tom Araya (Slayer)
8. John Bush (Armored Saint/Anthrax)
9. James Hetfield (Metallica)
10. Max Cavalera (Sepultura, Soulfly)
In an interview with the New York Times, Abrams said Dio was the unanimous choice for the top spot because he had a virtuosity that set him far apart from other top metal vocalists.
“If he needed to apply darkness, he could do it,” said Abrams. “If he needed to belt and go to a higher range, he could. He replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath, and I’m not sure there was a taller task for a vocalist. He did it with ease and grace, and he may have improved on what Oz did in the first place.”
‘The Merciless Book of Metal Lists’ is a fun read. I especially enjoyed viewing the artwork from ’200 Embarrassingly Bad Album Covers’… Anthrax took the top two spots with ‘State of Euphoria’ and number one ‘Fistful of Metal.’
Armored Saint guitarist Phillip Sandoval made a special guest appearance at ‘Rock A Bello’ on Saint Patrick’s Day (March 17, 2013).
Held in Montebello, California and hosted by METAL SHOP Rocks, Rock A Bello was a first of its kind music fest, featuring great local bands out of Southern California.
Sandoval was a special guest for the day/night event, taking photos with fans before getting on stage and rocking ‘God Save the Queen’ with local cover band H8TORADE.
Metal Blade Records 30 year anniversary party took place on November 30, 2012 at the world famous House of Blues Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. Eddie Trunk and Don Jamieson from ‘That Metal Show’ hosted the show and Metal Blade Founder Brain Slagel was in attendance along with members of Metallica, Kings X and Agent Steel. The entertainment for the night was Gypsyhwawk, Sacred Reich and Armored Saint.
As we arrived to the venue, Gypsyhawk had already played and Sacred Reich was on stage jamming Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’. They also played ‘American Way’ and that was it… I later found out they only played 3 songs, so we really didn’t miss much of their set.
Headliners Armored Saint hit the stage sporting some of their original 80′s armor gear along with singer John Bush wearing a wig! Their set included ‘March of the Saint’, ‘Can U Deliver’ and ‘Left Hook From Right Field’ plus a jam with a few special guests that all signed with the iconic label.
METAL SHOP would like to congratulate Metal Blade Records on 30 years of Metal and for introducing the world to some stellar bands, including Slayer, Ratt and Metallica… Here is to another 30 years! Big thanks to FULL METAL JACKIE for the tickets… You Rock!
Noisecreep: Among the many mighty metal milestones of 2012, the 30th birthday of Metal Blade Records stands as an amazing testament to the strength of metal devotion. Label founder Brian Slagel became a businessman almost by accident. He was a die-hard fan first, and editor of the fanzine New Heavy Metal Revue. Scraping together funding from money he saved while working at Sears, and a loan from his aunt, Slagel in 1982 created Metal Massacre, a Southern California-centered compilation to answer the countless label showcase collections of Britain’s NWOBHM.
From that first release, which introduced the world to Metallica and Ratt, Metal Blade Records was born. Over most of the next decade, the next installments of the Metal Massacre compilation series unveiled some of the greatest names in metal, including Slayer, Trouble, Voivod, Fates Warning, and Hellhammer.
METALLICA: The band that had the least going for it at the time of this record’s release has gone onto become the biggest rock band in the world. When Mötley Crüe bailed on Slagel’s compilation project, he offered his tape trader pal Lars Ulrich the slot if he could scrape together a band in time. Ulrich persuaded James Hetfield to join him, and for the initial release, Jamaican guitarist Lloyd Grant appeared as a guest soloist patched into the mix to play the leads. Future pressings included a different recording of the song with Dave Mustaine handling the trademark over-the-top trills.
RATT: A much more typical Southern California metal act than Metallica, Ratt were San Diego transplants to the Sunset Strip. Awestruck by Van Halen but chained down with a lean and relentlessly melodic double-guitar sound, Ratt cruised through a string of multi-platinum, platinum, and gold records and remain a musical and commercial highlight of the glam metal era.
ARMORED SAINT: Like many bands on the L.A. club circuit, Armored Saint relied heavily on image, but their studded leather armor was a far cry from the spandex and mascara of Mötley Crüe. Singer John Bush was openly courted by young Metallica, but he refused to leave his boyhood pals in this band. After Armored Saint’s early record deal with Chrysalis Records went South, Bush joined Anthrax for over a decade, and has since returned to his original armored homies.
This is a fascinating read. Check out more reviews of those auspicious debuts, in honor of three decades of Metal Blade, plus hear audio from these early recordings at Noisecreep.com.
KNAC Interview with Armored Saint Frontman John Bush:
“At this point in my life, not playing that often and doing long, grueling tours where you do ten shows in a row, and then a day off, and then nine in a row. I see bands still doing that stuff and I just marvel at it, because I wouldn’t be able to do that any longer. It’s not the way I sing. I sing with a very aggressive approach and I’ve been told for years, ‘You gotta back off. Don’t push so hard.’ I try not to do that, because I really want to try not to suck, in all honesty. I also feel that I’m a better singer now than I ever was. I just think I’m more in touch with what I can and what I cannot do. My voice has found a good little area where it’s raspy but it’s strong, and I probably know how to sing better than I did 25 years ago, when I was just trying to sing high and try to emulate some of my heroes. I wasn’t really there. Rob Halford was always the king, but I couldn’t sing like him. I was more like a Steven Tyler-kind of singer. It was about finding my niche and my personality and letting that kind of shine through. And to me that’s the most important thing to being a musician as a whole, or really a singer, is to kind of let your personality be the thing that people can connect with. You know who somebody is by the tone of their voice, by the style of their singing, by the playing of their guitar. And that, to me, is more important than anything. I don’t know how great of a guitar player, in terms of technical abilities, someone like The Edge is, but it’s just undeniable when you hear his playing. That’s him.”
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