American heavy metal royalty Armored Saint have announced their ninth album, ‘Emotion Factory Reset’, due for release on 22 May through Metal Blade Records.
In terms of the sound on this album, longtime singer John Bush said that they have synthesised “all our influences through the years, diverse music that we listen to and love, and let that seep in and bring something new out of us. It leads to something more adventurous.”
The album was released with a new single, ‘Close to the Bone’. Bush commented that “The first track on the record sounds like vintage Armored Saint. Yet vintage that comes out in 2026! How did we do that?” Expanding on Bush’s sentiment, bassist Joey Vera has said that “Musically, this song was inspired by my love and appreciation for metal that was coming out around the time of the NWOBHM [New Wave of British Heavy Metal], which is right when Armored Saint was formed. As always, I try to reimagine my early influences by giving them a slight modern twist.”
The track, beginning with a picked, trebly intro, explodes into a thundering riff, in contrasting ways both very traditional and assuringly modern with a slick production. A typically anthemic chorus backs this up and shows the dynamism that the band was known for in the early ‘80s, mixing galloping metal with strong songwriting.
Metal Blade is a natural home for California’s biggest trad-metallists. They started their career there, with the label releasing their three-track eponymous EP in 1983. Despite taking a break from the label during their initial period of success, from 1988 every album they have released has been through Metal Blade, their last release being 2021’s ‘Symbol of Salvation: Live’. That live release was their 1991 ‘Symbol of Salvation’ album in its entirety.
The band were part of a fresh Californian metal scene in the early 1980s, with the band forming a close relationship with Los Angeles thrashers Metallica. Both Bush and Vera were invited to audition for Metallica at various points throughout the 1980s. They have played with that band many times over the years, as well as with bands such as Judas Priest, Aerosmith and Dio. Between 1991-2000, they took a brief hiatus as Bush departed to take up vocal duties among New York thrashers Anthrax, following in the wake of the death of rhythm guitarist Dave Prichard in 1990.
Speaking of the album’s title, guitarist Phil Sandoval said that “to me, ‘Emotion Factory Reset’ means to reset yourself back to clarity. Take a pause and breathe before you respond or react. You can’t control outside events, but you can control your mind”. Adding to this, his brother Gonzo linked it to the technological revolution taking place through the advent of artificial intelligence, saying that “the world is going through a technological upswing/awakening. I look at our planet as the factory and in the most positive way we need to realign, reimagine, reset for our better selves.”
