Armor Column – Maximum Collateral Damage

(In the voice of a movie trailer narrator guy): In a world where heavy metal has fractured and become segmented into countless sub-genres that all stick rigidly to the rulebook of their particular style, one band defies convention to weld together two separate but equal sub-genres at the forge of Metal and create what will become known as…POWERTHRASH. Coming soon to a nightmare in your head.

So who is this mighty band you ask? The answer is Armor Column from Albany, New York. “Maximum Collateral Damage” is their debut full-length album and right from the start these guys had me slavering in anticipation of the next song. Their bio says they combine the strongest aspects of both thrash and power metal into powerthrash. It’s not such a strange idea joining the two styles, you’d think you would hear it more, but I just don’t. This album makes me think of a mad gene splicer in his hidden underground laboratory taking a wee bit of 3 Inches of Blood here and a skin graft of Overkill there…and presto…Armor Column emerges from a vat of slime to wreak metal upon the land.

You know when I start having these bizarre flights of fancy that I’m really loving on a band. Well, I admit it; I’m having a bit of a hetero-metal-man-crush on “Maximum Collateral Damage.” I was feeling a bit sluggish this Monday morning thinking about the long week ahead but now after listening to Armor Column I’m bouncing around excited. I love this album.

If you long for metal that is heavy and will kick your ass but are tired of the death/black/extreme metal scene, or maybe just don’t like harsh vocals, then you need to pick up “Maximum Collateral Damage.” I’m serious. This album kills. I hope these guys are getting some good promotion and distribution from their label because they need to be heard. These guys could easily take off with a debut this tasty.

You can pick up the album from their Facebook page, CDBaby, or on Amazon. It doesn’t appear to be available on iTunes at this time, which is something I hope they remedy soon. Go get this album and try to tell me I’m not right about these guys.