Armor For The Broken - Inspiring Stories Of Hope And Love
Do you remember back when you were thirteen or fourteen and Mom kept telling you to stop skateboarding and playing video games and actually do something with your life like homework or be with friends? Imagine if a few kids got together and started a band at an extremely young age and proved to parents everywhere that maybe all those times screaming to power chords in the basement can be worth it in the end with such a young age. Add some instruments, angry riffs, thrashed drums, and a synthesizer, and I give to you Armor For The Broken.
With a debut clocking in at about a half an hour, Inspiring Stories Of Hope And Love is quite the introduction to a small band in New Hampshire that many people haven’t heard before. One of the most noticable elements of the band is found in the first track with the incredibly young sounding clean vocals. Yes, indeed, Armor For The Broken is a young band, but the young age does not reflect a lack of motivation and talent as commonly commented by the elder generation. The young vitality creates an energy to the music that blends together with elements of Chiodos and Alexisonfire with some breakdowns and synthesizer action. Moving past the initial reactions of Diagram Of A Darkened Heart, A Boy Called Never comes next with an intro that reminds me so much of one from a Circle Takes The Square CD I had playing for weeks at a time.
The song has a heavy, throaty scream to it that sounds like a Dillinger Escape Plan / Alexisonfire mix. The breakdowns seem not as heavy as they are live, but the effect of heavy-hitting drums and bass while the guitar goes off on various riffs still captures some of the essence of the band. Next comes one of my favorite tracks of the album: Bedroom. The song starts off fast and heavy, and the chorus features the synthesizer in one of the catchiest synth riffs I’ve heard in a long time. It’s just an overall great tune, and often I’ve repeated it just to get that repeated feeling as the synth starts up.
One of the more catchy, melodic tracks of the album, Augustine continues more of the synthesizer action with catchy vocals and a fast breakdown at the end that fades out into silence. My other favorite of the album, Autobiography Of A Spotlight, comes in with the sound of organs blaring and a more Underoath feel to the song. In particular, this song has quite a huge breakdown that has POWER to it. The synth blazing with incredible sounds, the overall identity and energy of Armor For The Broken is truly enhanced by this element.
The rest of the CD moves along nicely with more ferocious tracks, such as the quirkiness of Maybe The Bitter End Ain’t So Bitter with so much going on at the same time. The screeching, high-pitched wails of the guitar and synthesizer at the same time create an eerie mood to the song. At the same time, tracks like Call It A Tragedy bring out the young-sounding melodic vocals, which aren’t bad but certainly give a different mood from the band. It brings me more into a Silverstein mind-set instead of the fierce heaviness that the band portrays in other tracks. The higher-pitched vocals of Sometimes I Like To Pretend I’m Johnny Cash really feel like the main vocalist from Then Came The Dawn, more throaty and raw.
The album ends with a remake of the song Texas Emergency Hotline, which many old fans will recognize from shows and Myspace alike. The re-recording of it does justice to the original while giving it an extra bonus of having a more solid, mastered feel to the quality of sound. The album overall has a very good introduction and impact of the band in general, but it doesn’t capture the pure energy and heaviness that is felt live. It’s a great album to learn the words and listen to a few favorite songs, but it seems like it has to be a companion with some live shows to truly appreciate Armor For The Broken. It would be very interesting to watch what the guys do in the future, since they have such a grounding in the local music scene already at such a young age. Only time will tell.
TRACK LIST:
01. Diagram Of A Darkened Heart
02. A Boy Called Never
03. Bedroom
04. Augustine
05. Autobiography Of A Spotlight
06. Maybe The Bitter End Ain’t So Bitter
07. Call It A Tragedy
08. Sometimes I Like To Pretend I’m Johnny Cash
09. Such A Disappointment That Things Should End This Way
10. Texas Emergency Hotline