Emerald – Armed for Battle

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If rock is of devil worshippers, Metal is the devil himself. No wonder to us who are used to them. Satanic imaginary is in almost all Heavy Metal bands, even directly or indirectly even if the band has no relation at all with evil or anything related. So, a christian band would naturally be an excrescence. Not really, my child of the night if you consider that  Heavy Metal is the rebellion itself, and it stands against all kinds of conservative and non-liberal thoughts and actions. Heavy Metal is supposed be against all threats against total liberty and to stablished patterns. Well, that put, evil, and other things related, became the pattern to Heavy Metal, so a christian band would be the opposition to it. Nothing more Metal than that. In fact, in the 1980s there was a big fuzz of openly christian bands with the imaginary and lyrics with bands like Strypper, Trouble, and others. Nowadays, they are represented by unblack metal bands like Antestor, Crimson Moonlight and Vaakevandring. This movement follows some dialects; thesis and antithesis. Musicwise they aren’t in any way different from their ‘opposed’ peers just because the power of Heavy Metal is very attractive and those bands desire to give christian beliefs the same power.

Emerald with “Armed for Battle” is another gem dig by producer Bart Gabriel and No Remorse Records from the depths of the 1980s. It’s useless to say that we praise this attitude. Emerald are a band that you, Metal fan, can love at first time besides the christian talk. The band has pretty solid sounding and songwriting. The opening guitar riff performed on title track “Armed for Battle” is delicious. Ok, some will say it’s dated and more of the same. Nah, my dear, Emerald are the real deal. They’re from the 1980s and this kind of riffing was kind of mandatory those days. Following track “Judgement Day” has a slower beat and its harmonic progression is amazing with an awesome chorus. You can find in Emerald many touches of 1980’s Ozzy’s music. “Teenage Suicide” tells it better. Despite of that, Emerald can please the ears of most heavy metallers. Their music is solid and competent. “Winds of Doom” is a semi-classic with its guitar fingered opening and its harmonic progression. The catchy and strong chorus is the cherry of the cake.

Do Emerald sound too much 1980ish? Hell yeah – ops! – but isn’t it what attracts the most?

Emerald “Armed for Battle” will be reissued on December 21st via No Remorse Records.

Track Listing:

Watch “Armed for Battle” video here:

https://youtu.be/xp8i8_5CY18