This is the second of two albums that Aria rerecorded with the 2020 lineup and I must say that it grabs me more than the original did. Mind you, nearly 12 years have gone by since I reviewed it, so I'm not sure that really matters. ;) While Aria started off by piggybacking a lot on '80s Western metal influences and increasingly adding their own touch, by 2006 they had long found their own sound, so there aren't as many obvious nods to their influences here, though a lot of it makes me think of Iron Maiden and even a bit of Metal Church, without actually sounding like either band.
What I really like about Armageddon is how the album is serious and melancholic while at the same time catchy and upbeat. The music is largely fast, powerful heavy metal with a little nod to power metal and, as is the norm with Aria, the vocals are front and centre and the vocal performance is great, especially on the title track. As I was writing this, I took a look at my old review and for the most part I was going to say the same things more or less differently, so I'd refer you to that one if you want to know more as even the references to the vocals hold true with a different singer.
This rerecording, just like the one for Baptism of Fire, gives the songs more power with the experience of the band and the modern production values, so this thing simply pierces through the speakers and sounds amazing. With that said, hopefully Aria have a new album in the oven. Having seen them during a live stream just a couple of weeks ago, it's obvious that the guys still have plenty of energy and can deliver more goodies.
