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Legionnaire: Dawn Of Genesis

Traditional Heavy Metal

4.0/5.0

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Gates Of Hell / Cruz Del Sur Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 17.05.2017

Formed a mere five years ago, and with two demo cassette tapes to their credits, Finland's Legionnaire delivers their first long player Dawn Of Genesis. For the sake of clarity, of the eight songs within the album, three are three from the most recent demo The Enigma Of Time, including that track with Millennium and The Guardian. (The fourth song on the demo was an instrumental.)

Legionnaire

The Legionnaire sound is something of a musical time warp to the early Eighties. Essentially, they play classic melodic heavy metal in the best New Wave of British Heavy Metal tradition. The usual musical suspects are self-evident: twin guitar harmony in riffs and leads, a sturdy and galloping rhythm section, and clean vocals. Taking each element in turn, the guitar riffs are brisk and bracing and, as should be, the solos are abundant, racing, and fiery. As for the pacing, every song here is a horse race of speed from the first song to last. So much so, I can't recall a single song that has any significant moderation. As for vocals, Aku Tiensuu has a clean and melodic voice, but sounds rather monotonous and dull at times. There's not a whole lot of variation in his singing.

You can make some conclusions from these things. One is that Legionnaire has a strong grasp of their chosen heavy metal genre. Another summation isn't quite as flattering. Basically, after you listen to the first song, you know exactly what you're going to get with the entire album. Keep it simple, and call it consistency of form and substance for Legionnaire. Nevertheless, if you like very guitar forward, "keep it true," classic melodic heavy metal you will like Legionnaire's Dawn Of Genesis. Recommended.

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If you like very guitar forward, "keep it true," classic melodic heavy metal you will like Legionnaire's Dawn Of Genesis. Recommended.

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Three years have passed since Sweden's Cruzh dropped their second long-player, Tropical Thunder, also introducing their new singer, Alex Waghorn. Now the band returns with The Jungle Revolution ... [ Read More ]