Legionarii - Iron Legion

The most significant parts of human history leave traces for many years and they receive a reflection in different arts. Music is not an exception and today it is Legionarii to reveal their vision of the battlefields of mankind through their new album 'Iron Legion'. The idea of martial side of industrial scene is not new and being exploited for many years already. A lot of big names grew out of this fertile soil and Legionarii follows their path to create a quite typical album for this genre.

What do you need to prepare a martial record that will fill even not the most courageous heart with rage and power? First of all take a lot of wide and glorious music and place it on the front stage. The more solemn is the music; the better is the overall experience. "Iron Legion" has enough of those ingredients, "Ahnenerbe", "Strategic Advance", "Ost und West", all the tracks pulsate with wide orchestrations, simply a fountain of powerful emotions and pathos. Synthetic tunes are mixed with original WW2 compositions to create a very dense sound. The second important part is a constant martial drumming that adds rhythm to each and every second, applying a certain amount of pressure with its energy. My legs start to march involuntarily under the table infected by a virus of war and glory. And the third most important part is an insertion of sampled war tunes, people talking in German, the effects of firearm combat, masses of people shouting and so on and so fore's. All the compositions dapple out with rich portfolio of such effects which turn the music to be very cinematic. The listener is sucked into the atmosphere of battlefield, propaganda and dark times of mankind history (especially with the track "Sieg!").

So, if you are ready to stand up and march with the masses towards the glory of warfare, just mix all three ingredients and you will receive ..... another martial industrial album. In chase after the gloss of musical arrangements, Legionarii forgot that not only the presence of those points is important, but also their filling. Everything is in its place, but the total creation fails to excite me too much. I keep spinning the album over and over again in search for some kind of zest, but each time it simply evades from my sight. Though for the people that don't listen to martial music frequently, 'Iron Legion' will be good enough.

Meantime, the marching leads this young band to the right direction. The passion is there and I am sure that their biggest explorations are still ahead, especially when the desire to succeed is supported by passion. Dec 03 2012