Review by Daniel for Armored Saint - Delirious Nomad (1985)

“Delirious Nomad”, the second studio album from talented five-piece Los Angeles heavy metal outfit Armored Saint, was released through Chrysalis Records in October 1985. I was a fan of the Saint's 1984 debut “March Of The Saint” however the band were very unhappy with the polished & overly accessible production job, as well as the obvious nods towards an LA glam metal sound in the way that some of the tracks were presented. So when it came time to record a follow-up, the band were having none of that rubbish & turned to a proven performer with strong metal credentials in Max Norman; the producer responsible for Ozzy Osbourne’s “Blizzard Of Ozz”, “Diary Of A Madman”, “Speak Of The Devil” & “Bark At The Moon” records.

And the resulting album sees the Saint sporting a noticeably more metal sound that would likely have sat more comfortably with the band. The shredding rhythm guitar sound is particularly metal & the dual guitar attack & vocals are pushed forward in the mix to create a more up-front sound that will be much more palatable for your average metal listener. The rhythm section tends to play a purely supporting role in the mix with the exception of a very loud & quite intrusive snare drum sound that I find very difficult to overlook. Was this intentional? Well how could the mixing engineer not have picked this up during the mixing process? It defies belief really but I doubt it’ll completely ruin anyone’s listening experience.

Armored Saint had retained the same lineup from the debut but it's worth noting that there are various reports around the internet that claim that guitarist Phil Sandoval left the band during the recording process, leaving remaining guitarist Dave Pritchard to complete the album by himself. In fact, Phil is reputed to have only played on two of the songs on the album. Well I don’t like to accept the common consensus as the truth so I decided it was worth putting my feelers out for the truth on Phil’s departure & what I found were a couple of old interviews with band members stating that Phil actually left straight after the album was recorded so it’s often worth doing your own research rather than accepting Wikipedia as factual. I have to say that I’m glad that the twin guitar attack wasn’t separated before the record was completed too because the solos are all pretty spectacular & the rhythm guitar work is very tight indeed.

This is a more refined sounding Armored Saint who have dropped the faster, more speed & power metal based material of the debut along with any hint at a more commercially focused glam metal sound. And in their place we get a more consistent, mid-paced tempo & a slightly more traditional heavy metal sound. The lyrical content is darker too with a heavy reliance placed on the Cold War for inspiration & the record subsequently feels a little more serious. The band have kept the arrangements pretty simple & uncomplicated for the most part & I have to say that the lack of ambition & complexity in some of the riffs employed is pretty disappointing to be honest. For a band that places such a heavy reliance on the quality of their riffs there are some pretty lazy & generic efforts included here. Thankfully front man John Bush is one of the best in the business & he’s able to pull some of the flatter song-writing back from the brink of failure with another high-class performance that solidifies his position as one of the leading metal singers in the business.

Having said that though, this is certainly a less consistent album than “March Of The Saint” was with a few tracks that clearly fall into the filler category. Plus there are less highlights & none of them are as mind-blowing as a song like “Can U Deliver” was so despite the high quality vocal & lead guitar performances & the more metal direction, I consider “Delirious Nomad” to be a step down from “March Of The Saint”. It just sounds a little bit underdone despite being generally pretty easy on the ear. It’s reported that the band thought they’d truly captured their live sound with this recording but their fanbase strongly disagreed with them & said it was lacking in excitement & I tend to agree with them. “Delirious Nomad” could certainly have done with a few more aggressive up-tempo numbers & people’s consistent use of the blue-collar US power metal tag when referring to this record leaves me fairly bemused. This is not that heavy a record really. It’s definitely more heavily focused on an early 80’s Judas Priest sound than the debut was but there’s nothing remotely close to speed or thrash metal. It's not a bad listen though regardless.