Here we have a real obscure footnote in acid rock’s already crowded stable of one-album wonders; a German band whose only album, issued on some sub-atomic record label way back when, is so rare even those who pride themselves on their knowledge of forgotten heavydelica will begin scratching their heads when you tell them that this is NOT the group Keith Relf formed just before he died.

Armaggedon (notice the different spelling kiddies?) recorded and issued their one and only album back in 1970 before promptly imploding. So what’s the album like? A lost classic of ultra-heavy German-engineered rock, tragically lost to time but thanks to the wonders of the information age can now be rediscovered? Well, not quite. 

The album consists of covers of Jeff Beck’s “Rice Pudding” and Spooky Tooth’s “Better by You, Better than me” as well as four largely forgettable originals. As can be expected, the production isn’t exactly great, although it’s better than you may think given the groups modest origins. The guitar is trebly but not as thin and harsh as on Leaf Hound’s “Growers of Mushroom”, the bass drum is full and fat, although at times it overpowers the rest of the kit, and the bass guitar is audible if not notable. The group also possesses decent instrumental chops, especially vocalist/lead guitarist Frank Diez, who displays several Hendrix‑y solos. Unfortunately, his Teutonic croon on the blooze‑y rockers is about as convincing as Keanu Reeve’s British accent, but thankfully he seems to at least partially realize this and gets to the guitar noodlin’ as quick as possible.

The best song here by far is their version of “Rice Pudding”, jamming it out to almost 10-minutes and replacing the boogie-woogie acoustic piano with a cool electric one, the band giving off an almost robotic vibe during the quieter sections, and while not as hot as Beck, Diez does have some fret board tricks up his sleeve. Their cover of “Better by You, Better than me” is also competent, although there’s those vocals again…
Regarding the originals, there’s nothing really that notable about them besides some good moments in Diez’s guitar solos. “Open” has a liquid jam section that almost makes up for the insipid “open your mind” vocal sections and the main riff to “Oh Man” comes close to giving off a funky, dirty-rock vibe, but it never quite gets there.

All said, it’s pretty easy to see why this album has largely remained lost to obscurity, as it doesn’t contain any truly great original songs and those expecting a bit of “Satori”-level “English as a second language” brilliance/madness will be disappointed. Still, there are some good licks, and any red-blooded stoner with a taste for the obscure should hear their version of “Rice Pudding” at least once.