LAST TRAIN HOME BY ARMORED SAINT

BY THE END OF the 1980s, Armored Saint were beginning to wonder if the world was conspiring against them. Formed in Los Angeles in 1982, they had released three widely acclaimed studio albums and become major players in the burgeoning US metal underground. What they definitely hadn’t done was conquer the rest of the world: an oversight vocalist John Bush wearily attributes to the fact that Armored Saint didn’t tour Europe or the UK until much later in their career.

Perhaps surprisingly, then, Bush and his bandmates – bassist Joey Vera, guitarists Dave Prichard and Jeff Duncan and drummer Gonzo Sandoval – were only one year away from recording what would become their biggest and most celebrated album, Symbol Of Salvation. But as they began to contemplate penning a follow-up to 1987’s , all was definitely not rosy in the Armored Saint camp.