UN: Let's start with a history lesson. How did the band first come together? Have there been many line-up changes since formation? Was it hard to find people skilled enough to play this style of music?

Joe/guitar: With the exception of Pete Rutcho, all other five band members were friends for years before even forming Armory. We all listened to metal music from various genres and played a variety of instruments. Chad Fisher, Thomas Preziosi, and Tom Vieira dabbled in a thrash/death metal band during high school. Chad and I had been talking about starting a metal band with more of a focus on melody, similar to Iron Maiden or Helloween. After working alone on several ideas for a few months, in the summer of 2001 Chad and I finally worked together to expand our ideas by making rough recordings of the guitars and programming the other instruments. The potential for creating a worthy power/traditional metal album was instantly realized and thus Armory was formed. For a few months, Chad and I continued to develop our songs when we realized that in order for us to make a serious album, we would need to find a bass player and vocalist. Since Tom Preziosi played bass and I knew that my younger brother Adam had a good voice and appreciated the power metal style of singing, the choices were obvious. I recorded all of the drums and together with Chad we took care of the guitar duties. The keyboards remained the only programmed element in the recording of the first version of The Dawn Of Enlightenment released in 2004. About a year later we entered the study again to re-record the entire album but this time with professional sound quality. Our engineer, Peter Rutcho, eventually became our keyboardist. Finally, we found a live drummer, enlisting the aid of Tom Vieira. So far, everyone who has ever joined the band is still in it. Most of us have not had a single musical lesson and are self-taught. Our musical writing and playing skills are a result of having passion for what we do, an appreciation for how its done, and the dedication to make it happen.

UN: I noticed that the line-up contains two brothers. Does having a family aspect involved in the band make it a tighter knit unit?

Joe: Yes, I believe that having my brother also in the band does make us a tighter unit. We grew up sharing many of the same interests. Musically, we both have exactly the same influences (in different proportions) and so we always seemed to be in sync during the writing process. We still live together and are always working on something related to the band. In addition, our older brother Jason, who introduced me and Adam in to heavy metal in the first place, helped write a portion of the lyrics for TDOE.

UN: If I'm not mistaken youve released The Dawn of Enlightenment twice. Was the first version not as accurate of portrayal of the band as you would have liked?

Joe: The first version of TDOE had aspects that we were satisfied with but also elements that we were not so satisfied with. What we really liked about it was the song writing, except for most of the vocal melodies. We also felt that the playing was up to standard. What we did not particularly like about the first version was the sound quality, which was very rough and thin. Nor did we like any part of the packaging of the album.

UN: The new version of the album is very professional both in sound and appearance. Was it important to make everything high quality so the band is taken more seriously? A hand drawn cover and a cd-r just wouldn't grab peoples attention these days.

Joe: As a result of us not being totally satisfied with the release of the first version of TDOE, we decided to re-record the entire album with much better sound quality and packaging in order to get it on the same level as any signed power metal release. We revised each of the songs a little and totally reworked the vocal melodies along with adding two bonus tracks. Our goal was to be viewed as not only a professional and legitimate power metal band, but hopefully as an emerging leader in the genre. We strongly believe that this was the right decision for the band and the dozens of reviews we have received so far from the global metal community have overwhelmingly confirmed this.

UN: The artwork for the album is very cool and well done. How did the artwork come together? Did you guys give the artist free reign or did you have a very specific idea in mind for the artwork?

Joe: All of us believe that album covers are a vital element of the total experience of a power metal album. Finding the right album cover for the re-release of TDOE took a very long time. We did not have anything specific in mind and hiring an artist to design a cover from scratch is usually very expensive. Because of this, we tried to find existing artwork that could be used as our album cover. Years went by before I finally found a painting that I felt was perfect for our album. I emailed the artist to see if he would allow us to use his painting in TDOE. He agreed, and another key step in making our album more professional was complete.

UN: How has the response to the album been so far? Does it make all of the hard work worth while when the glowing reviews are pouring in?

Joe: The response to our album has been incredible. We mailed out over one hundred albums to various metal review websites, magazines, radio stations, and distributors from all over the world. We have heard back from several dozen places so far. To give you an idea of the consensus of the metal community at large, the absolute worst album review we have received was a 6 out of 10. We have been given perfect scores on two websites and the overall average score is close to a 9 out of 10. Knowing that the majority of true metalheads out there really like what we have done with our album is a great feeling indeed. Even if the metal community had not liked our album, we would still not have any regrets about re-recording it. We are all huge metal fans ourselves and so having our album done professionally was worth the painstaking effort, if just for own enjoyment and sense of accomplishment.

UN: One comment that I made in my review and a few others have is that you guys shouldnt have had to release the album yourselves. Have you guys been sending the album to record labels? Any labels interested in working with you guys yet?

Joe: After the release of the first version of TDOE, we sent packages to over a dozen major record labels that specialize in the power metal genre. None seemed interested and most never responded back. In retrospect, I would say that the fact that the sound quality and packaging were not very professional along with us never having played live were the main reasons those record companies basically ignored us. We knew we wanted to re-record the whole album again and since it seemed that no one was willing to make an investment in us, we had no other option but to do it all ourselves again. Of course this time we had someone we knew do the engineering and post production. The highly qualified chap was so interested in our music that he also joined the band officially as our keyboardist. Since the release of the re-recording of TDOE, we have not sent any packages to record labels yet. Right now we are focusing on getting a buzz going through reviews, radio play, merchandising and playing live. Once our band resume has our approval, we will consider letting the record labels in our success. Only this time it will be them groveling at our feet!

UN: Iron Maiden to my ears seems to be a fairly big influence. What brought about the idea of including the cover of Flight of Icarus? Was it important to choose a song that hasnt been done to death?

Joe: Iron Maiden is certainly one of our biggest influences. We decided to record a cover song or two while re-recording TDOE just for the hell of it. There was no strategic reason for doing so. We were not sure if we were even going to put it on the album at all. Honestly, we could have chosen any of dozens of Iron Maiden songs or even songs from other bands. We chose Flight Of Icarus sort of on a whim. Well there you have it; the cover was for shits and giggles.

UN: Also included is a cover of Dr. Wily, which is of course from Mega Man. Whether people want to admit it or not, do you think Nintendo music might be a big influence on certain elements of the power metal style?

Joe: I can remember it being about midnight on a Friday night and we had just finished recording the last song on the re-recorded version of TDOE. We were all ready to pack it up when I reminded Pete that we forgot to record Dr. Wily. This was the other song we decided to do solely for our own enjoyment. Had I forgotten right then and Dr. Wily would have never ended up on the album. It might surprise you to know that I happen to like Nintendo music just as much as I like heavy metal. Armory's music is definitely influenced by Nintendo music, especially games like Zelda, Final Fantasy, Batman, Mega Man, Castlevania, and Lifeforce. To give you an example, just listen to the lead harmony right after the keyboard solo in The Eyes Of Time- it has Zelda II written all over it. We even added a ton of vibrato to really give it the Hyrule feel. Also, in Riding The Cosmic Winds, just before Adam sings Blood, fire, hell is here..., there is a quick harmonic part that sounds suspiciously like Mario has just collected some tempting coins. Let's not forget the harmonic minor harpsichord melody halfway through The Tempest that is reminiscent of Castlevania. Nintendo music has certainly influenced the power metal genre. Both styles came about roughly the same time in the mid-eighties. Any fan of power metal should be able to appreciate the mastery of Nintendo music. Power metal relies on a melodic atmosphere with many melody and harmony-driven aspects. The focus on ingenious harmonies that are simultaneously progressive and catchy encased in a super melodic atmosphere that falls nothing short of transporting the listener to the immortal halls of cosmic legendaryness is a hallmark of Nintendo music.

UN: How often do you guys get the chance to play in a live setting? Does the band have any touring plans or do obligations keep the band from being able to be out on the road?

Joe: For the first several years of the bands existence we did not play any live shows. This was for a couple of reasons. During this time all of the bands focus was on writing and recording our music. We were constantly revising the songs and wanted to wait until the final product was complete before playing it in front of an audience. Also, until a year ago, we only had four members in the band. Now a sextet, we can create a live sound that closely resembles the sound of our music on our CD. With two live guitarists and a keyboardist, we are able to play most of all of the harmonies while still having a rhythm section assisting the bass at all times. As with our CD, we place the highest standard on ourselves when performing live for our fans. To date we have only played a handful of shows, all locally and with long breaks in between. Currently we have no touring plans. In addition to being in Armory, many of us have full-time jobs and are also in other bands. I am also currently taking graduate courses. Eventually we would love to be able to go on tour; hopefully even in Europe, but that time will have to wait until we are supported in some way by a label or promoter.

UN: Whats next for Armory? How long of a wait do you think it will be until we have some new music from the band?

Joe: Right now we are very busy promoting our new album via sending it to metal review websites, magazines, radio stations, and distributors, along with organizing shows and keeping up with the sales of our merchandise while responding to fans. Emerging slowly but surely in the shadows these past few years has been the material for the second Armory album. Close to 100% of the music, including vocal melodies, is already written for eight entirely new songs. There will be between eight and ten songs on our second album along with maybe a couple of bonus tracks too. Lyrics have been written for about half of songs so far. Although the second album still utilizes elements of a handful of metal genres, includes an instrumental, and has a strong focus on melodic harmonies, there are some noticeable difference between this album and our debut. There has been a bigger focus on writing more guitar riffs and paying extra special attention to the vocal sections. There are few, if any, acoustic or clean guitar parts and there will not be an intro to the album. We have gained much composing knowledge since TDOE was created. It is evident in the fact that our second album incorporates an abundance of well-constructed key changes and synthesizes technical aspects with memorable refrains in such a way that was beyond our capabilities a few years ago. Nothing is set in stone, but we are tentatively planning on beginning the recording of our second album in late May this year. Unless something changes, we will be recording the second album almost the same way we did the first. We believe that this time we will be able to create an even better production than TDOE had. The path is laid before us. We will only improve.

Thanks Mike for doing this interview with us for Unbound Zine. Also, thanks to all our fans worldwide for supporting us over the years. Visit our official website www.faithinsteel.com for anything relating to Armory, including the latest news.


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