[From The Legion] Wed 26th Feb.
Hey gang! I figured that since it’s been a while between updates From The Legion, it’s high-time to provide an update on all the latest from this great online music community. Especially seeing as there’s been a number of recent interesting articles and discussions, both within the community and on the official blog as well.
Let’s have a looksee, shall we?
Peace, Love and Grindcore - Brady.
MusoLegion Recommends:
Sweden
See here for link to the Sweden edition of Musolegion Recommends, a series where we ask the community for their thoughts on three favourites/obscure bands or otherwise choice picks for a specific nation.
Check the link for further commentary from the admins/members’ picks as listed below!
From the Admin Team:
Sammy pays homage to three faves in melodeath veterans Dark Tranquillity, progressive death metal godfathers Edge of Sanity, and Tomas Lindberg (At The Gates, et al)’s side project, The Lurking Fear;
Brendo also gives props to DT, and also adds in folk-rockers Fjeld and veteran death-metallers Dismember as his choices;
I went thematic with it and picked some of my favourite Swedish d-beat legends by way of Disfear and Anti-Cimex, plus upbeat hardcore punks Final Exit;
Mike notes Ereb Altor as his epic-doom initiation ritual, whilst also keeping within the trad-metal/doom sphere of influence by way of Hammerfall and Candlemass, respectively;
Ash serves up an extreme metal triple-threat by way of recommending influential death metal act Entombed, melodic black metal legends Dissection, and death-grind brutalisers General Surgery.
From the Legion (Musolegion Community):
Donna’s three recommendations of choice are Dynazty (particularly the vocalist as a strength!), notes Opeth as “brilliant”, and also rates Dissection as a must-listen;
James D feels LIK, Vomitory and Feral are worthy picks by way of being “Just classic, no nonsense Swedish Death Metal.” ;
Daniel P gives a mini-overview of his three faves as per the link above, detailing specifics on why Bathory, Ghost and Magna Carta Cartel are his selects with some additional context;
Gaz highlights theme and feel as particularly strong re: Amon Amarth, whilst also rating Arch Enemy on Mike Amott’s soloing masterwork, and notes “people struggle to like ‘em, but I have no issues” around his love of Ghost;
Virpi S sums up her excitement for three-in-one with equal flair: “Opeth, Pain Of Salvation and Katatonia!! Those are my big 3 Swedish bands! I love prog metal and moody melodic metal.” and, finally,
Bryce A extends things even further with quite a comprehensive commentary on his 3 favourites - the folk-heavy metal stylings of Otyg, Candlemass’ luminary status as trad/epic-doom mainstays, and rationale for Regurgitate as, quote: “the best fuckin’ grindcore band”!
To top this Recommends thread off, I recommend checking out some of the many great Youtubers who’ve done fantastic introductions to nation-specific scenes. A prime example is right here, courtesy of The Heaviest Show In The Universe:
2. ESTONIA
One of our focal points both in Musolegion and here at Inner-Strength Check, is highlighting nations across the world that are less prominent in the forefront of the collective consciousness. Estonia, a nation with a population of just 1.37m overall.
Despite the smaller demographic stature in Europe’s 300+ million overall head-count, the Musolegion Recommends: Estonia (see here for the link to the discussion write-up on the Musolegion blog) demonstrates a scene with plenty to offer!
Before we kick off with the who/what for Admins and Legion - I’d like to highlight ML member Madis J’s project, Thurnaz!
Madis is a native Estonian, and fronts a one-man atmospheric/experimental black metal project. It’s great stuff!
You can stream the LP Incineration Day in full right here:
Thanks for sharing your tunes, Madis!
If you want to help promote the growth of the Estonian scene by way of one of our own, consider hitting up the artist profile on Bandcamp - right here.
As for the rest of us, Admins and Members alike:
Sammy chooses to divert to the electronica/alt-pop route, via indie-pop folksters Ewert And The Two Dragons + pop-rock trio Vanilla Ninja;
I picked the Estonian Carnifex (late 90’s blackened death metal, not deathcore lol), Lo-Ruhamah’s very Batushka-esque Anointed LP (doom/blackened death metal) and doom/melodic metallers Whispering Forest (see here for demo link);
Brendo recommends Metsatoll (epic folk/heavy metal, see here for link to single ‘Vaid Vaprust (Only Bravery)’), as well as two traditional/pagan black metal acts respectively in Loits and Terasesr;
Shane goes the heavier route in recommending death metallers Koffin, black metal unit Realm of Carnivora, atmospheric black metal project Thou Shell of Death , the ironically named Thrashless , death-thrashers Tankist and folk-metal troupe Raud-ants;
Ash gives a hat-tip to a diverse mix in experimental punkers Winny Puhh, ambient/electronic black metal artist Loits’ track ‘Ei kahetse midagi’ and up-and-coming grindcore bruisers Igor Mortis.
Madis, whose music was posted above, provides examples of home-grown Estonian industrial metal (Pedigree), doom (Talbot) and sludge (Kannibinoid) and, finally,
Similar to Ash’s extrapolation, Bryce A gives more context behind his choices with some notes on the blog post re: raw solo black metal project Illuminated Manuscripts and Estonian-German underground black/folk artist Uexhill.
Musolegion - Album Reviews:
Two old-school classics are explored by two Admin staffers in separate reviews: