Stillsealed with slipcase and extra booklet. 40th anniversaryre-issue with 5 bonus tracks from the 1978 demo

A vikingmetal album from 1979. And I thought I had seen everything. Nextthing I know, the sky really will be falling. But until then, thisis Legend’s famed debut From The Fjords, and it’s a milestone increative heavy metal. While it leaned toward the more rockish sideof things, they had long, progressively-tinged songs with extremelycatchy and very metallic riffs, way ahead of most other US bands atthe time. Sure, there was metal around in the late 70s, but thiswas an epic viking metal album from fucking 79, for Pete’s sake.Nobody else was writing stuff like this for a couple more years,not until around the time Manilla Road hit their stride. But enoughwith the history lesson, the band was fronted by Kevin Nugent, whohad a pleasantly calm and clear voice, yet still managed to soundconvincing and interesting. He’s one of the most relaxed singersI’ve ever heard, and it’s really a shame that he passed away a fewyears after this album was recorded. There aren’t many othersingers like this guy. He also handled the guitars here, which havea noticeable Southern twang to them at times, and also produce someof the catchiest riffs ever. His solos are crystal clear and verywell handled. The bass seems to follow the guitar and provides someextra crunch to them, which is, of course, always welcome. Thedrummer, Raymond Frigon, is however, one of the best drummers I’veever heard. Yet he’s the main detractor on this album. It seemslike there’s nothing this guy can’t do, and it’s a shame we neversaw him in any other bands after this, but here he just doesn’tseem to fit. Legend wasn’t an overly complex band, and their riffswere pretty simple and straightforward, as were the vocal melodies.So why is this guy showing off every chance he gets? The Iron Horsefor example has a 3 minute drum solo that just kind of breaks upthe song and makes it hard to listen to. On the other tracks here,it’s mostly okay, because you can tune it out, but he seems to likeproviding as many fills and beats as he possibly can, and it’sannoying. No doubt, he’s talented, but the band would fit betterwith more simplistic drumming, nothing over the top like they didhere. The album starts off with two killer tracks; Destroyer andThe Wizards Vengeance. The former always ends too soon, and it’s ashame, because it’s got a great main riff and awesome lyrics, plusa very cool vocal performance by Nugent. There’s simply nothingwrong with it, at all. Classic, classic, classic…this song willnever get old. The latter is an anthemic, upbeat jingle that Ifirst knew from the cover Slough Feg did of it on their Twilight ofthe Idols album. The Golden Bell is probably my favourite songhere, a seven minute epic filled with time changes and packed withgreat lyrics and melodies, along with some cool chanting vocals.Even the drumming is not too distracting here. The leadwork isnothing short of stunning, and very reminiscent of the classic rockbands of the time (no surprise, really). Words really cannot dothis song justice, it’s simply perfect. If every song were likethese three, then I’d just stop the review now and give the album aperfect score, but about half of this album is useless filler, andit makes me wonder why this wasn’t just an EP with the four goodsongs on it. The Confrontation is good, but fairly pointless, andthe two following tracks are just unmemorable as Hell. The IronHorse is another instrumental, and isn’t as good as it should bedue to that drum solo I mentioned previously, which just kills thewhole thing. Now, the title track is another great one, and I’mglad it closed the album. It leaves you on a good note, withprobably the catchiest riff on the album, plus lots of time changesand unfortunately, drum wankery. The lyrics are also fantastichere, telling another viking tale, and it still amazes me how farahead of their time Legend were. So here we have a disc of quiteabove average, yet flawed, epic heavy metal. For fans of the genre,this is mandatory, and you will really love Legend. It’s notwithout flaws, but those can be overlooked in favor of the shininggems also to be found within this little treasure trove of heavymetal mastery. It’s a shame they never released anything else.Highly recommended.

Tracklist:
1. The Destroyer
2. The Wizards Vengeance
3. The Golden Bell
4. The Confrontation
5. R.A.R.Z.
6. Against The Golds
7. The Iron Horse
8. From The Fjords
9. The Destroyer-demo 1978
10. The Confrontation-demo 1978
11. R.A.R.Z.-demo 1978
12. The Court Jester-demo 1978
13. Aramis The Lover-demo 1978

Condition: mint