Armored Saint at The Viper Room. May 23, 2007 photo courtesy Stephanie Cabral |
Armored Saint
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
http://www.armoredsaint.com/
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The Viper Room (Hollywood, CA)
Opening acts: Cockpit, Chingalera
Armored Saint is back on a crusade to give their fans straight, no-glam pure metal. My first exposure to the Saint was back circa 1984 at a concert they opened for Whitesnake and Quiet Riot, somewhere in Chicago. I was floored when I saw them then, and was pleasantly delighted to see them bringing it again Saturday night at the Viper Room in Hollywood -- a great place to see a live show, very intimate with a capacity of 200.
The East Los Angeles quintet featuring John Bush (back from his Anthrax stint) was nearly its former complete line up, minus Dave Prichard (R.I.P.) and the addition of ex-Odin guitarist, Jeff Duncan. The first song of the set was hard-hitting fan favorite “Long Before I Die� from their third release
Delirious Nomad. They followed with “Can U Deliver� from my favorite album,
March of the Saint. The crowd was hoarse from the get-go. Next was “The Pillar� from their 2000 release
Revelation.
Armored Saint at The Viper Room. May 23, 2007 photo courtesy Stephanie Cabral |
The band took a break, and John Bush proceeded to thank the audience for years of support. As many A.S. fans know, the band was devastated with the death of their original guitarist from leukemia, which eventually led to their breakup. Years later they decided to finish the co-written songs Dave Pritchard started, and released
Symbol of Salvation.
“Glory Hunter� was next in the set, and another great tune from
March of the Saint, which was followed by the hit track and great sing-a-long song from the Symbol release, “Last Train Home.� “Departure� and “Symbol of Salvation� added two more excellent tracks to the set list. Next was the title track to the
Raising Fear album.
Armored Saint at The Viper Room. May 23, 2007 photo courtesy Stephanie Cabral |
I’m so glad this band decided not to call it quits in light of the tragedy they experienced.
There were two opening acts, Cockpit and Chingalera. Cockpit, an all female metal band, (man I love that name) opened the night with some decent songs, which began to sound the same after the fourth and fifth one. Overall, an entertaining first band to watch. Chingalera was a little overboard. This three piece was testosterone filled to the gills. Too loud (and no I’m not too old, LOL), too long, enough said.