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“Some might even think we’re a hair band. We also get called power metal.” Armored Saint have always struggled to fit in – but they’re still willing to try something different
John Bush, the frontman of Armored Saint who once turned down an offer to join Metallica in the early 1980s and later fronted Anthrax between 1992 and 2005, has spoken about the band's new album, Emotion Factory Reset. He describes it as reflecting Armored Saint's continued willingness to evolve musically, drawing inspiration from classic seventies acts such as UFO, Queen and Judas Priest while never settling into a single genre pigeonhole.
The album's promotional material calls it "a resurrection of sorts, a tearing down and a rebuilding," a description Bush attributes to biographer Katherine Turman while affirming his pride in the band's ongoing creative expansion. He notes the record follows the band's recent cover of the 1974 song One Chain (Don't Make No Prison), suggesting a period of experimentation and stylistic reach that has long left Armored Saint resistant to easy categorisation, sometimes mistaken for a hair band or power metal act.
In short
- John Bush discusses Armored Saint's new album, Emotion Factory Reset.
- Bush once turned down Metallica and later fronted Anthrax for 13 years.
- Band embraces genre-defying, ever-evolving sound inspired by classic rock acts.
Explained simply
Armored Saint formed in the early 1980s and are fronted by John Bush, a musician notable for declining an early offer to join Metallica and later fronting the band Anthrax from 1992 to 2005 before returning to Armored Saint. His career path reflects the band's broader openness to exploring different musical directions within metal.
Throughout their history, Armored Saint have drawn inspiration from seventies rock acts such as Queen, Judas Priest and UFO, creating a sound that defies neat categorisation within metal's various subgenres. They have sometimes been mistaken for a hair band or labelled as power metal, though such single-genre descriptions do not fully reflect their actual musical approach.
The band's difficulty fitting into standard genre categories is not accidental; it reflects a deliberate choice to avoid being confined to one particular sound. This artistic openness has been central to their creative identity throughout their decades-long presence in metal music.
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