Armored Saint is gearing up to drop their ninth studio album, *Emotion Factory Reset*, on May 22 through Metal Blade Records, and frontman John Bush wants everyone to know they’re keeping it real in the studio *†. The eleven-track record was produced by bassist Joey Vera—who’s now helmed the band’s last five albums—and mixed by Jay Ruston, with recording sessions spread across five different studios including 606 Studios, Secret Hand Studios, and Bridge Recording *†. But here’s the cool part: despite all the modern tech at their fingertips, the band’s approach hasn’t really changed since the ’80s when they were cutting demos on Fostex four-track cassette recorders †. Vera runs a home studio where he builds elaborate Pro Tools demos, and the band often keeps those initial vocal takes in the final mix because sometimes that first raw performance is the magic one *†. Drummer Gonzo Sandoval even plays to those demo templates as his click track, keeping everything organic and breathing *†.
The album title itself came from a phrase guitarist Phil Sandoval threw out, and the European digipak edition will include a bonus cover of “One Chain (Don’t Make No Prison)”—a deep cut originally written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter and first released by the band People back in 1970 *†. This current lineup has been locked in since 1989, minus the years Bush spent fronting Anthrax, proving that chemistry matters *†. The band was inducted into the Metal Hall of Fame at the Whisky A Go Go last July, and their documentary *Band Of Brothers* premiered in Hollywood in May 2023 *.
What’s striking is how Armored Saint refuses to let technology sanitize their sound—they’re using Pro Tools the way they used to use tape, as a tool to capture performances, not manufacture them *†. In an era where every note can be quantized and Auto-Tuned into oblivion, these guys are still chasing that first-take fire, and that’s exactly why they’ve stayed relevant for nearly four decades.