Legion of the Damned - Malevolent Rapture
Massacre Records
Thrash
10 songs (39:10)
Release year: 2005
Massacre Records
Reviewed by Al

It’s analogy time people. If Dominate, the album I reviewed last week, is the musical equivalent of intelligent conversation over a bottle of fine wine then Malevolant Rapture is the musical equivalent of downing 12 pints of cheap beer, possibly getting in a fight and waking up in a strange bed the next morning. It’s not big or clever and you’ll probably regret it the next day, but a lot of fun is there to be had along the way.

Malevolent Rapture is the band’s debut effort and try as I might I couldn’t ascertain any information about the band (even from their official website) aside from the fact that they’re Dutch. I could therefore make up a hilarious and mildly touching back story to entertain you all but on the other hand I could get sued for libel, so I’ll just leave it at that.

The sound on offer here is a mesh of old school 80’s thrash and rasping death metal vocals. The thrash elements are carried off very well but they’re certainly not pushing the envelope in terms of originality. The vocals however have a high pitched, raspy feel to them and they just don’t gel with me. I like my death metal vocals with a bit of depth and those on offer here can tend towards white noise at times.

The main selling point is that there are some seriously meaty riffs to be heard often causing continuous involuntary headbanging and resulting in puzzled looks from passers by or fellow bus passengers. (It’s been a unique week) Each track circulates around pure thrash shredding which drops away to form monolithic chugging breakdowns of rhythm guitar expertise. The consistent sense of rhythm to these breakdowns gives the album an accessible feel quite rare to the genre. Non-existent is the usual technical and brutal wizardry of death metal bands alluded to with the vocal style, instead the listener is bombarded with chunky riff after chunky riff all accompanied by the vocalist’s ungodly growls and howls.

Another major plus point to the band is that the drummer certainly knows his way around a drum kit. The drumming is nothing short of phenomenal at times, alternating between off kilter rhythms and machine gun brutality at the drop off a hat. The production of this skin beating is fantastic and you can hear every beat, even if most of them last but a millisecond. I challenge you to listen to Death’s Head March or the title track and not be impressed by the quality.

There are criticisms as well however. The worth of the album is detracted significantly due to the similarity of the tracks. There is very little variety on offer here as the songs tend to follow the same length and structure throughout and with the exception of Malevolent Rapture an identical vocal style. The quality of the tracks is good so it is simply a question of how much variety matters to you. The other criticism I bear is the lack of solos, I like my thrash peppered with insanely fast slices of brutal technicality and unfortunately none are to be found here. I do find this surprising as the 80’s influence is so prominent and the lack of solos almost leaves a void in the sound.

All in all this is a good album. It’s not going to break any records or send people into a state of blissful nirvana but it has been a part of, and will probably continue to grace, my rotation of albums. It has an addictive quality to it that keeps me coming back so if you fancy something no-nonsense and mindlessly enjoyable I recommend it. If you are however in the mood for 9 minute epics featuring solos that make you cry at the realisation that you are but a mere mortal, stay clear of this one.

Killing Songs :
None really stand out, if you like one you'll like them all
Al quoted 72 / 100
Other albums by Legion of the Damned that we have reviewed:
Legion of the Damned - Ravenous Plague reviewed by Jared and quoted 85 / 100
Legion of the Damned - Feel The Blade reviewed by Crims and quoted 74 / 100
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