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October 8, 2008 |
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INFERNAL LEGION - Your Prayers Mean Nothing
Napalm Records (2005) |
7/10 |
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01. Frenzy The Legion
02. Your Prayers Mean Nothing
03. Forest Of The Diseased
04. Inverted Crucifix
05. Precision Butchery
06. Christian Genocide
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Lakewood, WA death metallers (it even says "death metal" on the back cover of the album to avoid any confusion, I guess) INFERNAL LEGION have now unleashed their third album, "Your Prayers Mean Nothing", to the death metal lovers of the world. And make no mistake about it: this is old-school, hardcore death metal. The band (Josh Smith - lead vocals, Doug Stern - lead guitar/vocals, Erik Armstrong - lead guitar, and Justin Thomas - drums), accompanied by guest musician, bassist Rick Powell (AZIMUTH) , have not tried to reinvent the wheel with either their performances or their songs. They simply play the tried and true death metal style here. This is just pure, evil, brutal death metal that reminds the listener a little of what MORBID ANGEL is all about.
The opening instrumental track, "Frenzy The Legion", is a slow, fairly hypnotic piece that you can really skip past. For me, it's a little too long, and really not indicative of what INFERNAL LEGION are offering with this platter. For me, the real start of the album begins with "Your Prayers Mean Nothing". With the CANNIBAL CORPSE type death growls and lyrics like "The rivers of death and deceit will flow, fiery pits of hell burn inside but not below", the band do their thing very well. Tight performances, brutal vocals, and good production all bring the songs out.
"Forest Of The Diseased" is a slower offering, at times almost coming to a crawl, however "Inverted Crucifix" brings the pace back up to par before slowing down again. Tthe time changes really add to the intensity. This, again, is an evil tune, reminding me a lot of CANNIBAL CORPSE. "Precision Butchery" could fit nicely on a CC album with Smith sounding like Corpsegrinder's long lost brother, while "Christian Genocide" has a bit of a BEMEMOTH feel to it, vocal-wise. Smith is really the highlight of the 5 songs that include vocals. While the rest of the band members are good, he has the ability to dominate a song. Yes, the vocalist is supposed to be front and center, however it's not always the case that the singer gets the attention.
INFERNAL LEGION have offered the death metal lovers a good platter of evil and hatred. However (and maybe it's just a sign that I'm getting older), isn't the religion bashing thing getting a little tiring? I mean, it's been done and done to death (pun intended). I think it's time for the extreme bands to find a new victim as this really isn't even a battle anymore. As the band has signed a deal for two more albums following this release, it would be cool if they expanded their topics a little. That being said, "Your Prayers Mean Nothing" is worthy of a spin.
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