Band: The Legion
Title: A Bliss To Suffer
Label: Listenable Records
Distribution: Listenable Records - Bertus
Release date: 27/04/2009
Review: CD

The Swedish horde The Legion arose from the ashes of Tyrant at the end of last century. The band recorded a first mini-album (Awakened Fury, Deepsend) and their debut full length, Unseen To Creation, in 2003, followed in 2006 by Revocation. The third full length, also the third for Listenable, has duration of forty eight minutes and was completely produced by the band itself (engineered and mixed by guitar player Rikard ‘Tiwaz’ Kottelin). The basics still are the same: fast and furious, raging Black Metal with melodic elements, but this time, the whole sounds darker and more atmospheric. The latter does not mean a lack of aggression, on the contrary - A Bliss To Suffer is The Legion’s most intense album to date! Don’t expect some renewing, but very Swedish-inspired material. Yet again, the average quality is far above the grey masses, because of the mature technical elements and uncompromising yet intelligent song writing. The album also is more varying than the former ones. Highly recommended to fans of Marduk, Naglfar, Thy Primordial, Dark Funeral, Blodsrit and Setherial.

86/100

Ivan Tibos.