[REVIEW] The Crimson Armada “Conviction”

The Crimson Armada

Conviction

Label: Artery Recordings/Metal Blade

Release: June 21st

The Crimson Armada has got “Conviction”

Hailing from Westerville, Ohio The Crimson Armada emerges with nothing but a few demos in their gig bag. The band only being a tiny blip on the radar was playing with such acts as The Black Dahlia Murder. The Crimson Armada was a band for about a year before deciding to take a break. Ohio did not like that one of their beloved local bands decided to disappear and after much push and shove from their local fans, The Crimson Armada broke back into the scene in 2008. The band came back full force and after a few months of shows, and releasing “Behold The Architect” EP themselves, they snagged a deal with Metal Blade Records for a full length and released Guardians on July 7^th 2009.

Now present day The Crimson Armada has moved on to a new label Artery Recordings and has the honor of being not only produced, but mixed and mastered as well by Brian Hood of 456 Recordings, formerly the drummer of MyChildren MyBride.

Brian has worked on records with such acts as A Plea For Purging, IWATCHEDHERDIE, I Explode Like, Before There Was Rosalyn, As Hell Retreats, and A Tragic Victory. He also has done drum recordings with The Devil Wears Prada.

The Crimson Armada have also made line up changes as well with a new drummer Jordan Matz, and a new guitarist that you may know from a popular record of last year, Brandon McMaster formerly of Sleeping with Sirens.

Starting off with the self title track “Conviction” I was anxious to hear what these guys had to bring to the table with the new record and surely enough they brought some exciting things for my ears to tune into. First the vocal style Saud has not only his signature screech style that we heard on guardians but he has a new holler to the mix something you would hear straight out of an Emmure record. I can honestly say the way that Frankie Palmeri did it annoyed the hell out of me, but Saud has an interesting way of doing it., and its very fitting and his transitions are fluid which makes it all the better. Saud also has greatly improved his gutturals as they are not as raspy and undeveloped as they came out to be on Guardians. Saud still has the holler that we heard on Guardians under the line of “God you’ve shown me exactly what its like to be alive” but on Conviction it’s a lot cleaner and developed. Next on to the instrumentals, guitar has drastically changed it doesn’t sound so treble heavy as on guardians its blended quite well in fact. The bass lines are superb as they are not just busting your ear drums they are working with the solid drum lines on this track which will have your head bobbin and get you moving.

Next up, is “Forgive Me” it starts out super heavy with bass lines and drums and throws in the standard hardcore “group chants” declaring that this song has not just meaning to one person in the band but all of them. Saud gets a little more pitch with his vocal style and blends his screech and holler together. This track seemed to change a few things here and there until after all the fast paced rhythmic guitar work and chants comes a brand new sound for Armada. Brandon McMaster pipes in and gives this song a pop, post-hardcore twist to it and it sounds so beautiful its sounds like a clean style you would hear on a “Our Last Night” record I found it to be a very nice addition to the mix, it then jumps back into a musical style you would hear if you popped in the Returners album by The Ghost Inside. I really was surprised at how versatile this track was and the mix of genres and how it worked.

“Composure of Stone” this is the single that has been streaming all over the net. This song is a lot darker with heavier double bass lines and that background keyboards that you would hear in Dance Club Massacre or Cradle of Filth which made it so much more sinister. The Crimson Armada has also added guest vocals from Andy Atkins of A Plea For Purging, a very fitting guest on such a sinister track of Armada. The solo on this track was placed in the back and not so high pitched like on the previous record it was blended in to let you hear the background music as well I found it to be a very nice touch.

“You’ve Changed” it starts off like I was listening to a track off of Miss May I, with the whole melodious guitars and echoed clean vocals. Then breaks down and I’m wondering what direction are they going it went from a what seemed to a be a “bring me up” type of song to a malicious guttural and high pitched screams that are essence of Suffokate and then a breakdown comes and all I can think is L-O-S-T-B-O-Y but not all is lost it soon ends and a classical piano comes in and makes it fresh but its straight back to MyChildren MyBride feel. I did like the track but if I wanted to listen to MyChildren MyBride I would change to it on my ipod. I heard too many new age bands sound on this track which doesn’t make it bad but it also doesn’t make it good either.

I love the smell of “Napalm” in the morning what I don’t love is overused sound clips from movies as intros,  but it soon picked up the pace and laid down some fast paced hardcore style that reminded me of the Stick To Your Guns track “Part of Me” which I was okay with. This track also has guest vocals from Levi Benton of Miss May I. I liked the eerie guitars about a minute and half in. Levi makes his appearance known soon after that most enjoyable guitar and you would have to be living under a rock or not even listened to Miss May I not to know its him with his vocal style never altering from what he does on “Monument” or “Apologies are for the Weak” but Saud does bust out some vocals on this track which was a big help to ignore Levi.

“Questioning God” in my opinion has to be hands down the best of the tracks on this album. First with a beginning that reminds me of Poison the Well, but soon changes to some melodic metalcore breakdowns. Saud and his new holler style along side Brandon with the backup clean vocals. Saud made waves by using every style of vocal on this track and I believe this track show what the band can do and shows that they are not just about the shred the guitar to melt your face or breakdowns, but that they are sophisticated and composed and good enough musicians that they could do something different. This track bears the bands true abilities.

The final track “Worthy” blew me away with a standard Christian bible reading plug, this track is different from all the others including “Questioning God” this is not only the final song on the album but the slowest as well. Saud steps aside on this and lets Brandon take leads and makes for the most beautiful song on the record. The melodious guitars with soft acoustics as well, the use of the piano, and Brandon’s voice shouldn’t take a music aficionado to figure out that this song will make you think twice about all Metal bands and no they did not go with a “butt rock” anthem song as it may sound, its completely Armada just the tempo is changed and Saud in the back instead of the front. I have to give to The Crimson Armada on this track huge props.

In closing I feel that this record is huge step for The Crimson Armada in a different direction and shouldn’t be overlooked. I know you may think from all the band references I made that this sounds like a generic record from another metal band, I will agree there are parts on this record that are generic but for the most part stands out in a lot of ways. I can guarantee that you won’t hate this record and I would encourage you to go out to your local record store or from the band directly and pick up this record. Conviction is a record you should have in your collection if you are a fan of the band or the genre as this record has something for everyone. I can honestly say I approve of the direction The Crimson Armada is heading and look forward to what the future may hold.