Band:	Armageddon Monks
Album:	Armageddon Monks
Style:	Hard rock
Release date:	2007
A review by:	Raiden

01. Storm
02. Revival
03. Severed
04. Long Way Down
05. Where We Lie
06. Suffocate
07. Get Your Fill
08. Waste
09. Lines
10. Come Inside
11. Wayward
12. Carried Away
13. No Day Like Tomorrow

Style: Heavy/Alternative Metal/Hard Rock
Country: USA
Label: Self-Released
Length: 54:21
Recorded: 2007

Line-up:
Matt Kelly - Vocals
Steven Goldman - Guitars, vocals
Jack Logue - Guitars
Andy Adelewitz - Bass
Michael Hunter - Drums


When I first noticed that this Armageddon Monks album was a self titled release I went and assumed it was the band's first release. Upon hearing the album I thought that this USA modern Heavy Metal/Hard Rock band pretty well knew what they were doing, and it turns out that this is their third album. "Knowing what they're doing" isn't the complete prerequisite for a good album though, so let's see what Armageddon Monks have in store for us here.

Firstly, this is, as I passingly referred to, a "modern" Hard Rock/Metal band. They aren't like your grandfather's Hard Rock. They follow a formula that's proved successful for the more "accessible" bands of our day. They're not quite like your run of the mill Nu Metal band either (no "screams" or typical features of this genre here!), which have as many people hating them as fans, but the music here is like "Heavy easy listening music". Part of the reason I describe Armageddon Monks' music as accessible and easy to listen to is the vocals. There is strength in Matt Kelly's vocals, but they are clean vocals. "So what?" you ask. "It would be weirder to have anything harsher in this type of music". Yes, you'd be right, but Armageddon Monks employ some pretty solid riffs at times. Heavy Metal/Hard Rock it may be, but sometimes it makes you think of a kind of "melodic Thrash Metal". This is a good thing I think, as this album doesn't follow a narrow spectrum. The track for example "Where We Lie" is slower and contains mostly softer guitar playing, but gets heavier for the chorus. The guitarists must be commended for their solo work too, which even in songs like the one just mentioned or the similar song "Lines" the solos are surprisingly technical and very fitting.

Overall Armageddon Monks doesn't really contain any huge surprises. There aren't any tracks that make your ears "skip a beat", but at the same time the album isn't repetitive. Each song is nicely individual. It's an album of mostly the same tempo music, but each song is still distinct and you aren't easily bored. Fans of the band's previous two releases would know what's going on here as this album is just like Skyclad's "No Daylights Nor Heeltaps". Old songs, but re-recorded with a new singer (Matt Kelly) and new bassist (Andy Adelewitz). To me though, as I haven't heard the originals, it might as well me an entirely new album.

So what we have here is something that, for a metal fan, fits the mood of when you want to listen to "something else", something more alternative, but you still want it pretty close to home. The drumming follows pretty safe patterns, the vocals are clean and there isn't really anything in there that wouldn't appeal to a wide audience. Not for every metal fan (I've liked, disliked and then liked this album again in only the first three spins!) but recommended as a nice form of modern Heavy music and Alternative Metal.