Армагеддон

Here’s another album that’s been in my collection since 2013 or 2014, that I haven’t reviewed yet. (Apparently I lucked out, having the Berkut version of Armageddon—it’s something like next to impossible to get this puppy outside of Russia now, and not just because of the political situation. The current lineup of Aria re-recorded Armageddon with Michael Zhitnyakov on vocals two years ago, precisely to correct this.) Thankfully, this is one that I’ve listened to consistently for the last eight or nine years, and one which I know I like—so it does not go in the ‘backlog rifle’.

Aria’s second (and last) album with Artur Berkut on vocals, Armageddon, is a slightly stronger effort than Baptism by Fire. That is because they stick to the basics of what they know best: no frills, no pretentious experiments, just plain straight-up heavy metal. Melodic and full-sounding, well-stocked with simple and heavy riffs. Even if it doesn’t reach the sheer heights of talent which we know that Aria can display, Armageddon is still a solid album.

‘Marked by Evil’ with its infectious rhythm and crushing momentum is a good example of this. The riff is pretty basic, but the whole thing just barrels forward with a thick layered guitar sound and a headbangable riff—for Holstinin and Dubinin, this is bread and butter. But it’s served up in a uniquely appetising way, and even the quasi-funk bridge manages to sound like it belongs there. Another one which stands out is ‘Messiah’, which opens on a very literal scream from Berkut, and just rides forward on a fun, catchy-as-hell heavy riff. Simplistic? Sure. This isn’t Aria’s best work by any stretch of the imagination. The one real place where you most notably seem to hear a bit of Aria’s ‘classic era’ brilliance, is on the nine-minute epic ‘Blood of Kings’, which features one of those understated, brooding opening passages before launching into a tale of war, woe and glory. ‘Viking’ begins the same way, with a gloomy, eerie spoken-word passage courtesy of Berkut, before launching into its groove-laden main

On the other hand, you do still have tracks which kind of fail to connect. One of these is ‘Defender of the Empire’. Even though the chorus features a catchy riff and melody, the main song rides entirely on the rhythm of Dubinin’s bass line while Holstinin’s and Popov’s guitars play around on this caterwaul of discordant subharmonics on top of it. Not my bag. The bridge features a better-than-decent guitar solo, though. Another is the rather listless plodder ‘Alien’, followed up by ‘Light of Past Loves’, an unmemorable quasi-balladic filler track—both of which are kind of there just to take up space on the tracklist. ‘Your Day’ continues the tradition, dating back to ‘America Is Behind’ on Megalomania and represented strongly by ‘Kick Some Ass!’ on Playing with Fire, of ending the album on a happy major-key note. Unfortunately ‘Your Day’ doesn’t really kick one in the ass the same way the track which inspired it does.

There is also something which rubs one a little bit the wrong way, about Aria writing songs about aliens (‘Alien’) and Vikings (‘Viking’), Crusaders (‘New Crusade’) and fighter aces (‘Defender of the Empire’) when these themes are much better suited to younger bands which are trying to make a name for themselves by writing about ‘epic’ historical and SFnal themes. It’s a little bit like they don’t know how to act their age—though, to be fair, it isn’t Holstinin and Dubinin writing the lyrics, but Margaret Pushkina… and she knows how to execute these concepts even if they are a tad cartoonish and stereotypical fare for a veteran heavy metal band like Aria. Alone among the songs on this album, ‘Blood of Kings’ approaches the hair-raising epic quality of Aria in their heyday.

But these latter nitpicks are just that: nitpicks on a band which puts out consistently solid output. If I were to characterise what makes Armageddon worth listening to again at a basic level, I would say: rhythm is what makes it really tick, so to speak. It’s not big on technicality or showy displays of virtuosity (despite the guitar solos which feature in many of these songs). Armageddon takes its stand on the depth and consistency of its rhythms, which belong solidly in the tradition of melodic heavy metal. The rhythms are what make Armageddon a heavy metal album worth listening to again and again, even if the tracklist itself is, quality-wise, somewhat patchy.

15 / 20

Three years after the last album, the Russian heavy metal legends have nothing added to their formula. They play traditional heavy metal with a few fast rockers, some epic songs and a few semi-acoustic ballads. This is surely nothing innovating but something that has been become quite rare and unique in times when bands like Iron Maiden play pointless and boring pseudo-progressive music with an average length of eight minutes and when groups like Manowar just add more and more senseless spoken word and orchestra passages to their sound. Aria deliver true and pure traditional heavy metal in a solid, authentic and well done sound experience without any overpolished and artificial surprises.

"Last sunset" is a killer of an opener. It is heavy, melodic, directly addicting and has a very catchy pre-chorus and chorus. The band is known to have done some very strong album openers but this one is even one of their best and my favourite song on the record. The epic "Blood of kings" is dark and epic and reminds me a little bit of Iron Maiden's "For the greater good of god" and sounds like this band should sound in my opinion. The epic "Viking" is a very atmospheric and addicting track and has some movie small and fine score elements. Some parts sound like "Can't stop" by the Red Hot Chili Pepprs or Dio's "Holy diver". This is surely nothing unique or groundbreaking, but the song simply rocks and is very rhythm orientated.

There are also a couple of little surprises on the record. The sound effects and the introduction of "Marked by evil" almost sound modern and industrial and add a special something to the song. The single "Alien" has the same phenomenon and is a well thought and courageous output. The exotic Japanese introduction of "Guard of empire" goes in the same direction.

Of course there are also a couple of rather boring songs like the faceless and traditional "New crusade" or the typical average ballad "Light of past love" but most of this potpourri of traditional heavy metal is a welcome alternative in times of core and gore music and where even bands without any talent try desperately more and more "experiments". That's why I would recommand this album to any true metalhead that want to discover or have something traditional coming from an exotic country in his collection.