Legacies Unchain – Satan is Strong and Always Near (2016) / 95%

"Is he though?"
"Yes, he is."

Composed of the sole member of the excellent Misantropical Painforest and another dude known for Wormphlegm and its funeral doom classic, Legacies Unchain is definitely my discovery of the year (or last year, no idea, time is blurry right now) and I’m thankful for Hops from the Ride Into Glory community for the recommendation. Their take on metal is one that speaks to me quite a bit, it’s occult, slow and lures you in the dark Finnish forest to sever your arms with a hand axe.

Satan is Strong and Always Near (one of the best album titles of all time) is pretty much only three extended tracks with its title track being a bit more than twenty minutes. There’s three untitled instrumental including two to start the album, for some dark magical reasons, they’re not on the tracklist! The first and third are some guitar doodling moments that puts you in the mood. The second is one minute of shamanic aboriginal music preparing you for some ritualistic black metal, it’s not randomly placed either as there’s comebacks to this sort of primitive atmosphere throughout the album. The use of the didgeridoo, this cool wind instrument from pre-colonial Australia highlights the barbaric, primal feel of Legacies Unchain and it can be found alongside your normal metal instruments in “All Hail the Great Sperm” (what?) or “Dragon City”. The instrument announces the arrival of those two dudes on the artwork as they’re storming the camp full of goblins in order to slay ‘em all. In the name of Satan, of course.

The whole thing sounds like a do it yourself barbaric black metal assault to me and I mean, I really love this kind of stuff. Apparently recorded in 2004 but only released more than a decade later, their kind of metal is pretty timeless. It’s mixing the raw occult power of black metal with the stupidity of heavy metal and the brain dead riff onslaught of death metal for our selfish pleasure. It’s a riff worship ceremony and the unworthy ones were sacrificed to some primordial spirits. The duo is able to write interesting, river-esque songs with only the power of powerful metal riffs and Satan. Spiritually linked to black/heavy bands like Demontage or Malokarpatan, Legacies Unchain slashes you with mid-paced riffs until you’re out blood to offer. They use those traditional elements well such as on the title track, it’s like if funeral doom was combined with black/heavy/thrash, it’s long but epic and flows nicely and it’s 100% hateful, obviously.

Their vocals are also pretty diverse in their commitment to barbaric prowess. To high pitched screams to more deep growls and to some insane chanting, there’s something for everyone. The title track concludes its twenty-three minute run time with a mad clean scream, probably a shamanic priest dying during a ritual or something. Those guys like their crushing brutality too, the death metal influence can be felt at the beginning of “...Sperm” while “Dragon City” is rooted and drenched in heavy metal riffs. Their vocals are a constant though and they anchor the band into Satanic overload.

Satan being always near them managed to motivate the guys, this is one hell of album. Even though it’s somewhat inaccessible due to the sheer length of its songs, there’s an entrancing vibe that rewards you. It’s similar to Cultes des Ghoules’ masterwork Henbane (the pinnacle of black metal as far as I’m concerned) in how it makes me feel, it’s riffs after riffs and you may think it’s dumbed down but it’s actually oddly subtle and genius.