:: The Armada - The Armada

The Armada

In a manufactured, assembly line music era ‘The Armada’ are taking rock back to a time when honed skills, unassuming talent and raw instrumentals came together to bring audiences a true and real music experience. Interesting and unusual percussion permeates this record, the track ‘Chinese Whispers’ having an oriental twang, whilst ‘Morocco’ moves from standard rock to something a little more exotic and middle-eastern inspired. It’s most definitely comparable to front man Jeff Martin’s previous endeavour, ‘The Tea Party’. Odds are previous fans will adopt ‘The Armada’ as their new flavour. The foundation is most definitely hard, driving, raw rock; guitars, bass and keyboards all taken care of by Martin. His brash baritone, moving from soft and sensual into tough and gritty is interesting, distinct and at times dark. There is an infatuation with the mystical and magical, ‘Going Down Blues’ talking of fortune-tellers and fates revealed. ‘Broken’ is a bright and wistful journey, a lovely listen, as is ‘Untitled’, dramatic and emotive. The time, effort and undoubted talent given to the creation of this record has to be admired; the sound is definitely an acquired taste, not all will find all encompassed in this album to their liking.