By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

(WRITER’S NOTE: This is the final Cassette Chronicles article for 2025, closing out our ninth year. Next week, there will be a recap piece with links to ten of the pieces that were written this year. It’s a chance to check out some of the album’s spotlighted in 2025 on the off chance you missed reading them the first time around. Thanks for continuing to read the series and I look forward to kicking off our 10th year of The Cassette Chronicles in early 2026.)

ARMORED SAINT – MARCH OF THE SAINT (1984)

March of the Saint, the full-length debut album from Armored Saint, came on the heels of their 1983 self-titled three song EP. While this debut release did yield what is described as a minor MTV hit with the song “Can U Deliver”, the album didn’t exactly set the sales charts on fire. It peaked at #138 on the album chart and so you might think that this album would have faded into some sort of obscurity given that it is now more than four decades old. 

But you’d be wrong. And it isn’t just the metal diehards that likely remember the album either. Armored Saint is still around and turning out great album after great album. And when they tour, songs from March of the Saint still find their way into the set list and get huge crowd reactions.

While it is not the album I turn to regularly enough, besides the title track and “Can U Deliver”, whenever I think of this album, I also eagerly recall the songs “Mad House” and “Mutiny on the World” as well.

Of course, that does mean I need this refresher listen to dig into the other songs all over again.

On Side One of the album, the title track opens things up and I still find that I love the way Armored Saint kind of slow rolls the intro with a kind of pomp and circumstance overture before the full-on metallic roar of the music kicks in full. From that point, it’s a pure driving rocker. If it was the first time anyone heard singer John Bush’s voice, they had to be blown away. He sings straight out with power but when called upon to do so he can kick things up and unveil a metal scream that will rival anyone else’s screaming ability. And the fact that he’s still doing that even now is all that more impressive.

I mentioned the track “Can U Deliver” previously and it follows the title track. There’s no holding back on this one as it delivers a wallop right from the start and doesn’t let up. I can see why it got to be a “minor” hit with the video.

Giving the March of the Saint album a killer trio of songs to open up the album, the song “Mad House” is another frenetically paced rocker. The guitar work is phenemonal and you get a killer vocal take from John Bush. I also liked the way the band constructed the chorus. With Bush singing the regular lyrical content, they added a big backing gang vocal when the song title was sung. It enhanced the chorus and while I’ve loved the song since first hearing it, I found myself with a new appreciation for the track.

I would’ve liked to know who wrote what for the ten songs on the album but all the songs are credited to the band as a whole.

The song “Take a Turn” is pretty interesting. In the main lyrical passages, the music is slow and deliberate but as the track goes into the chorus, the music gets more in-your-face and faster. And the vocals get a more intense delivery.

The first side of the album closes out with the song “Seducer”. Right from the start, the song bursts out of the speakers with a fiery delivery that captures your ear pretty fast. What I noticed most is that along with “Take a Turn”, the track is definitely from the “album track” side of the musical ledger BUT both songs deserve far better than to be written off with that designation. Both are solidly entertaining songs and help shine a light on just how well the band started out with this album. The songwriting is there with every track on the first side and I can’t help but love that Armored Saint seemed to know what they were doing even in their earliest days.

For the album’s second side, the band kicks off with the song “Mutiny On The World”. I don’t know what it is about this song but I really love it! It’s got a killer rhythm to the music and I dug the way the vocals came through. The vocal phrasing in the chorus, particularly when the song title is sung, grabbed my attention each time through.

The remaining four songs on Side Two of March of the Saint are lesser known tracks in comparison to the rest of the band’s catalog but don’t let that fool you into thinking that they are somehow lesser lights.

For example, “Glory Hunter” is a monster track. I think I’d forgotten about this one a bit. With a kicking delivery, the music gets you amped up pretty quickly. This song hit me a lot different and made a bigger impression on me than I remember it having done in the past, which is just a bit strange to me.

Keeping in mind that I’m far from a musical expert, but I have to say that the way drummer Gonzo Sandoval gets to provide the intro for “Stricken By Fate” will really draw you into the song. Once his ear-grabbing intro blends into the full musical score, you can still hear how his drumming ties the rest of the music together. Midway through the song, which is a stomping kind of uptempo number, you get this cool little guitar interplay with Bush’s vocals that had me drawn in all over again.

For “Envy”, there’s a slow burn intro that steadily grows until the music is playing out in full rocking glory. The song is the shortest one on the album but it manages to provide plenty of sonic thunder to keep your heart rate rising throughout.

The album closes out with the song “False Alarm”, another uptempo number. It rocks pretty much from the start and I dug the way Bush performed vocally on this song. I think Side Two is probably very underappreciated by even some Armored Saint fans but I’ll be damned if I didn’t find myself rocking out as if this was the first time I’d heard the song.

A few months back, I was hanging out at the record shop and a discussion of our favorite albums came up. And surprisingly, one of the other customers in the store at the time said that March of the Saint was one of his all-time favorites. I was a little surprised considering that another band is his personal favorite. I figured it would be one of their albums that he mentioned first. But that’s what makes this album still resonate with me all these years later. It’s so good that it still gets chosen as an all-time favorite by those metal fans in the know. Is it any wonder why I am such a fan of both Armored Saint? Does March of the Saint deliver the goods? You bet your ass it does!

NOTES OF INTEREST: The March of the Saint album was reissued on CD in 2006 via Rock Candy Records. That version of the album comes with three bonus tracks which are demo versions of “March of the Saint”, “Seducer” and “Mutiny on the World”.

Reportedly, singer John Bush and bassist Joey Vera do not like how the production and mix of the record came out. They were frustrated with the producer and according to the info listed on the album’s Wikipedia page, they claim to still be in debt over how much the album cost to make. Though I’m not sure how old that particular quote from them might be.