Armored Saint has unveiled the cover art and the first single from their first new album since 2001, La Raza! The album’s foundation was laid back in 2008 when Joey Vera and John Bush began writing new material for what would become La Raza and the album was completed in December at Tranzformer Studios in Burbank, CA. The album was produced by bassist Joey Vera, and engineered by Bryan Carlstrom and his assistant John Nuss. Recording was mostly done with analog equipment and the final album mix was delivered on 1 inch tape. This gives La Raza the most organic sound as possible. Fans can finally hear the first single, Left Hook From Right Field, on http://www.myspace.com/armoredsaint1.

To complete the package, the band employed photographer Stephanie Cabral and Metal Blade’s own Brian Ames. Joey Vera comments further, “Metal Blade is doing a really cool digi pack package for us. We felt like the city of Los Angeles is such a big part of our fabric that we wanted to use that in the design of the artwork. So with the help of our good friend and photographer Stephanie Cabral and Brian Ames from the Metal Blade art department, we came up with a really cool package that represents our band and the music on this record. We also wanted to incorporate a “green” action by leaving out the plastic CD tray and using recycled paper. The result is a classy and poignant package.”