Mutilation Rites - I Am Legion (2012)

EP, Gilead Media
March 30th, 2012

Genre: Black Metal
Region: USA

I haven't posted or in fact done anything important in the last 3 days because Mass Effect 3 is ruining my life, so this review may be a little lack luster but believe me I Am Legion is fucking awesome.

This is the new Mutilation Rites EP, they have a full length in the works too. Their demo was promising and I'll be seeing them at the Gilead Media festival so this is a nice prelude to that. I Am Legion builds nicely on the demo with an amped up melodic sheen, ugly rasps, tasty drumming, a strong bass presence and bouts of fury amongst dark atmosphere — improving immensely on their sound.

Cloaca Maxima sounds very familiar to me specifically in the first half of the track. It's really bothering me that I'm having trouble putting my finger on it. It opens with an expansive melody, descending into swirling riffs for time before returning to a choral wave. A build up lead by the drums starts and a sharp tremolo riff then returning to previous ground. Blood Will Tell is next, again beginning with sustained melodic chords but quickly turning to much more coarse territory with gallops and scratchy tremolo leads. A slow portion hits with restrained dissonance suddenly leading to a very old school section, reminding me of the thrashy blends the genre was more known for, before a blunt ending.

Terrestrial Hell is the final track. Lecherous and conjuring the old school again in the opening moments. This continuous before a drum break, and then another addictive riff emerges with a strong lead behind it. Slow bending tremolos strike out, a pause for silence, then the fury returns — interrupted for a bout of melody broken up by chunky rhythms; these cycle before returning to earlier riffs, leading the final moment..

Highly recommended indeed as you can hear great growth from the demo. Gilead Media have this up on bandcamp for you to hear/buy and you can preorder the vinyl over at their store. This label rules so support them and the band.

DOWNLOAD (Mediafire)
DOWNLOAD (Zippyshare)