But album number 2 sees the departure of vocalist Kena Strömsholm ( ex And Oceans/Havoc Unit) and drummer Sami Järvinen, replaced by new drummer Petri Mäkipää and a new guitarist Lasse Mämmi as well as some assistance from Emmi Silvennoinen (ex Ensiferum) who has performed with the band live.

So, along with this new lineup as a seven-piece, comes an even more epic, rangy sound, that imbues a bigger, more expenasive Moonsorrow and Finsterforst sound a little, whilst still keeping their classic 90s sound, especially with an album that contains 3, ten-minute songs, a nine-minute song, and 2 eight-ish minute songs (the last album’s longest song was eight minutes).

The album’s seafaring themes add to the band’s more epic, majestic sound as the longer songs make room for more atmospheric bridges, builds, and interludes. That said, the first track, “And So Flew the Death Crow” didn’t really grab my attention, even with an enjoyable march and sway, and some wonderful keys. Though the song’s last few moments with some blast beats, sterner death metal vocals (which are used a lot) and choirs set the stage for the following special moments.

Certainly the mid-paced stomp, clean croons and Borknagar-ish chord progressions of “The Seer of Ages” and the more blistering “At the Roots of the Vile” are both really enjoyable (the latter has a cool little tribal mid-section, and maybe the first “GO!” I’ve heard in black metal), but the album’s second half is pretty special.

Indeed, the album’s second half ( so 3 songs), is where the album gets really, really good. Stand out “Among the Black Waves”, sees Silvennoinen delivering some amazing clean vocals as the song’s balladic start ebbs and flows like the tides. Then the song’s last third is a majestic, epic, melodic tour de force that might be one of the best songs of the year in the genre.

“In Longing Times” is a wondrously regal, mid-paced austere number with mostly clean vocals and a heavy mid-era Borknagar (Quintessence, Epic, Empiricism) meets Enslaved vibe. But it’s closer “Saiva” where the album truly peaks and climaxes with an expansive, soaring, epic album end cap that shows the band’s development from a mere 90s black metal ‘cover’ band, while still having that aura, but truly spreading their wings and becoming a force in modern black metal.

With current and former members of Rapture, Scorngrain, Alghazanth, Black Beast, and most importantly (when releasing melodic black metal at least),  Havoc Unit/…And Oceans, including two vocalists, the project is full of Finnish veteran talent and it shows, as Monumental-The Temple of Twilight is a goddamn spot-on delivery of the genre and bands mentioned in the promotional materials, especially the nature-based early days of Borknagar, down to Garm/ICS Vortex- ish clean vocals here and there. I’d even throw in Ulver’s debut, Bergtatt, and Mother North era Satyricon as a possible reference as well as the album has an organic but epic and crisp, clean, wintery, woodsy elegance.

From windswept opener “Empyrean Fields” (with the main riff that could be from Old Man’s Child debut) to closer “After God”, the above influences are immediately and impressively apparent, and the 8 song 38 minutes run time is absolutely enthralling and nostalgic from start to finish. The tracks all feature blustery, but melodic blast beats and militant, proud, pagan-infused, anthemic marches. The keyboards don’t make it a full-on bombastic, symphonic, orchestral affair, but add just enough subtle swirling, regal majesty to the proceedings.

Like “Empyrean Fields”, the second, standout track “A Paean to Fire” invokes Old Man’s Child with its frosty opening riff but you can also hear the Borknagar (especially about three minutes in) and Satyricon aura shine through the mists. “Thus Spake the Tongueless Serpent” delivers a stern mid-paced march, with some angelic female vocals, and the albums almost 9-minute centerpiece “With the Sun and the Skies and Birds Above” is basically pure Borknagar debut album wrapped into one song; folky acoustics, crisp blast beats, and witchy rasps. However, the closing track “After God” is somehow even more so, as it could have come from The Olden Domain with its wintery majesty, a perfect track for a hike in the snowy hills this time of year, replete with austere Viking -y clean chorals.

In all one of the better, purest forms of (very band-specific) 90s black metal worship I’ve heard since Northwind Wolves, Cold… Dark… Grim in 2017 and a band I hope to hear a lot more from in the future.

There’s some fairly solid early-to-mid 1980s hard rock here, falling a little more toward the commercial end of the spectrum. The bands that come to mind when listening to the record are acts like Krokus and Fastway. The music is pretty solid for the style, but there’s more than a fair share of cheese here, mostly in the vocals and lyrics. Singer Vince Venom has that particular screechy rasp that was popular at the time, but can get very annoying in its upper registers.

The record starts off with the cheese-filled anthem “Rock ‘n’ Roll Tonite.” The song is waaaay over the top, and gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect from the rest of the record. Second track, “The Time is Right,” is surprisingly restrained with a nice main riff from guitarist Mike “H.C.” Slutz (I wish I were kidding). They’re quickly back into overkill mode though with the shouted chorus of “Roll Out (Or Get Rocked.)”

 Armour offers up a heavier side as well, influenced by the likes of Accept and WASP. “Satan’s Knight” is the first of these, a high-speed rocker, that’s a little less flamboyant. The other Accept-flavored burner, “Hellfire,” ends up being one of the better songs, despite the fact that it’s a tune we’ve heard over and over from a variety of bands.

When Armour dials it back a little, though, they can be pretty good. “Ready to Attack” features a nice opening riff and never gets too out of control, making it probably my favorite song on the record. Likewise, the WASP-influenced “Can’t Resist Your Spell” is a pleaser for the spiked wristband-wearing metalhead in me, despite some occasionally painful lyrics.

And speaking of painful lyrics, there’s some quality comic relief to be found here at times. “Sex Demon” offers us some of the worst sexual metaphors since Spinal Tap’s “Sex Farm.” “I’ve got a gun loaded with a shot/ girl you’re gonna scream tonight when my bullet hits the spot,” for example.

 It’s not that Armour is any worse than many of the bands I listened to in the early and mid-1980s. In fact, they’d fit in quite well, and if I’d heard them back then, I probably would have loved them. The problem is more the fact that I’m not 12 any more, and many of the songs here are either sophomoric or a bit silly in the lyrical department. Unlike, say, White Wizzard, which seems to embrace the cheese factor and have fun with it, Armour, at least to my ears, seems to be very serious about it, which often makes it unintentionally funny.

 If you’re looking for a little trip back to your adolescent years, and don’t mind a healthy helping of cheese, you could do much worse than picking up Armour’s full-length debut. Though it won’t likely stick with me long, I have to admit that it’s at least good fun for a short time.