After touring their act independently for several long years, Kingston Falls has earned the support of Facedown Records to present the national hardcore scene with their grandly titled debut, Armada on Mercury.

The record sets sail with a valiant intro of strings, bells, and snare rolls that feels just like a soundtrack for a magnificent fleet of ships "destined for glory" and segues into the title track with a few tasteful bars of acoustic guitar before launching into the predicted electric surge with a scream of "GODSPEED!" The five minutes that follow are played out with more passable screams and a harmonized chorus accompanied by conventional guitar riffs, off-beat snare, double bass, and a few dings of a triangle. The rest of the album remains in the same vein, taking a steady course of the band's enjoyable punk metal style with an evident element of randomness (short interruptions of cowbell, acoustic guitar, bells, strings, etc…)

The lyrics are mostly written about romance and relationships, but God is present and Christian value can be found. The commendable words of "On Contentment" chant, "compassion must be our calling… put yourself aside and bring someone to life". "The Illusionist's Dream" screams against hopelessness in depression saying, "When you're between redemption and suicide, hate is all you have. This is the illusionist's dream. There's no happy ending. Alone, condemned, disguised… Grace defies the masquerade."

Armada on Mercury is decent for a debut album that will probably sell successfully at the merch tables while on tour. It may not make big waves in the competitive modern Christian hard music market and there are definitely moments that bring the skip button to mind, but there are also a good number of gratifying moments throughout the 50 minutes of play time that prove the potential of Kingston Falls. It's a thumbs-up album achieving the next level for a band with determination that should be expected to mature and improve in the future.

- Review date: 4/6/08, written by Tim Harro of Jesusfreakhideout.com