| CD REVIEW The Legacy |
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Band : The Legacy After looking at several angles to start this review, I eventually deciced to do a "creative re-write" of the biography the label sent us along with the promo copy of this album. Frontman Adam and drummer Andy originally met at school in Sheffield. Both being mainly inspired by Black Flag, Minor Threat and Rites Of Spring, they formed their own band in 2002 with the addition of guitarist Dick Smith and bassist Joey (both of whom were already playing in other Hardcore bands before). Following a well-received demo, the quartet had their first EP Dead Weight out on UK label Dead And Gone inlate 2003. Throughout the next year, they not only worked on the following EP, but also toured the UK up and down. In December of 2004, the guys released their We Gave It Everything EP (a split release through the Dead And Gone and Assault labels), and promotion for this happened through an extensive European tour (which went through the UK, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland, and Austria) in early 2005 with American Punk act Life Long Tragedy. So extensive was that tour that the band's van broke down from sheer exhaustion in the middle of the night on a French motorway, leading to the necessity of the band having to push their 2,5 ton load some 5 kms down the expressway. During late 2006, the band set aside their typical Hardcore DIY ethics and their mistrust against "regular" labels, and signed to British imprint Visible Noise, whose first release by the band was the February 2007 mini-album Solitude. With dark and evocative artwork provided by Dan Mumford, that record was a reflection of the band's feelings on individuality in the often overly simplistic UK Hardcore scene, and musically the band followed a slightly harder and faster sound than before while still conserving the band's passionate melodic qualities. Both fans and press (Kerrang! giving it 4 "K"s out of five and stating "Fist pumpingly good!"; Mike Davies at the Radio One Punk Show being cited as saying "UK Hardcore at its finest!"; and Total Guitar printing the words "A sharp shot of life to UK Hardcore.") reacted positively to the mini. In between touring all over the UK and Europe to promote the mini, The Legacy found time to mature their sound into a deep, bleek monster of aggression...while still retaining their trademark melodic edge that won them their first fans. Commenting on the band's slightly changed sound, Dick says, "We felt there were less restrictions when recording this album, it wasn't just Hardcore by numbers...this is the first record that we were truly comfortable writing!". The band still rocks out at moments (check the songs "Curse Of The Ages" and "Dusk" for good measure), but there's moments when their music transcends into a darker, more atmospheric sound ("Fire And Brimstone", "Sand And Time", and certainly the instrumentals "The Sun Wields Mercy", which is a calmer shortie...and album closing "Omega", which is more energetic). To give you an example of each "style", the boys have posted the first songs between the brackets above at myspace.com/thelegacy (where you'll also find samples for two tracks each off We Gave It Everything and Solitude). Perfect examples to eludidate on the rather peculiar hoarseness in the voice the band members seem to have...and I dó mean both the lead singer and whomever does the backings! Hum...you know, it just might've been Adam doing àll vocals on the album, of course! I mean, that's very possible, eh? To me, the blending of the band's original influences and their current darker and more atmospheric influence sounds truly great. I mean, I've always been a fan of both atmospherics in Hardcore and Black Flag, Minor Threat, ànd Rites Of Spring (I have records I hold very deerly of all three), and so for me to catapult this band into my "Best Albums Of 2008"-list feels rather natural! Yoù have the right to feel different, of course, but if you're even a moderate fan of the above mentioned acts, you sure will like the take this British band have done on that! 98/100 Tony. |