A quick review for Irish band Indominus’ new EP Legion Within. The band got in touch with an early copy – release is September 16th – and asked us to give it a spin. Who are we to refuse some friends of Dead Label?
The band have five tracks with which to impress and kick things off very well indeed with the thrashtastic “Leeches”. Blasted through at a breakneck pace with drop-tuned heavy strings, the thing that really stood out for me was the dual-layered vocals. The most “up front” are standard harsh vocals, but shadowing them throughout was a much lower, grumbling/growling beast. These come courtesy of guitarist Simon, and they work really well.
Holding back on the blastbeats a little, “Backbone” is more of a churning, stirring number. Again, the production is superb with some echo at the beginning that makes it sound like it was recorded in a dank sewer with slime dripping down the walls. Yes, I can be that specific based on what I’m hearing. Despite not being quite the speed demon that “Leeches” is, there’s plenty to get the neck muscles going here. Those dual vocals are back as well.
“Shadow” kicks in with no intro at all. It just starts… in much the way a dragster starts. Zero to whatthefuck in nought point one seconds. It’s the first track to have a really melodic break (these are hinted at in the first two), and it really mixes the album up by doing so. Three songs in and plenty of variety. This is an evil track, make no mistake. Gothic riffs, pounding rhythms and those vocals again.
As “Fragile Existence” begins, the style changes ever so slightly again. This time with perhaps an edge of hardcore, it’s definitely got that bass-led rhythm that gives you that tough decision between bouncing or going mental in the pit. The blastbeats return with a vengeance, too, and it’s the twisted rhythm section that nails this one. Right behind the lead guitar and vocals, they hold this whole thing together and give it more of an atmosphere than anything else.
We end on the title track with starts off a bit battle-metally with a superb widdly riff. The image in my mind was of an army charging along on horseback – the vision not lessened when we get past the intro and into the body of the song. Things just get more… violent. Around a minute or so from the end there a great scales-sweeping guitar flurry followed by possibly the heaviest, clanging section of any song on the EP. We’re verging into sludge here, so I hope you have the bass speakers to handle it.
This isn’t a bunch of ballads. Legion Within is designed to beat, kick and pulverise you into submission and bloody hell, does it do a good job. Check out the teaser below and consider pre-ordering it. This really is a great piece of work.
Indominus: official | facebook
