Legends of Evil and Eternal Death

I really can't emphasize enough how much it saddens me that the minimal attention this album gets today is because it features Deathspell guitarist Omega along with two other early members of the now-classic French band. But the truth is that this work deserves all the recognition it gets and more for its own merits.

The structure of the album in short is simple, but it has its intricacies. The core of the songs are rampant builds ups that unleash a great dark epic, easily in each song we will find several of these moments, and their power and capacity to impact doesn't decline at any moment even so. But the songs are long, so we have the intrusion of many moments of interludes, which cut the glorious atmosphere and go into a more calm and reflective tone, but these moments far from interrupting the vibe, enhance the other moments of the work, especially if we talk about how well this band managed the tempos. Because whenever it seems that the interlude is starting to get long, the members of Hirilorn become aware of it, and in a very organic way they change the mood introducing an incredible riff that will stay stuck in your memory forever.

And speaking of riffs, the amount of splendid ones that this album brings is mind blowing, they are incredibly melodic and the band members made sure that in the sound mix and in the compositions these brilliant riffs shine above all else. Many of them are incredibly simple, but that together with the repetition of them for long segments make them incredibly memorable. And no, the fact that it's repetitive doesn't make it boring or monotonous, as I said the band members give a masterclass on how to make such long dynamic songs and no segment lasts longer than necessary.

But it's not just the riffs, the lead guitarist's performance is the absolute highlight of the album. Every occasion where he performs are moments perfectly constructed to lead into a moment of extreme epic and melodism, with both electric and acoustic guitar. But what I love the most about Sinn's performance is how his solos don't shine for their impeccable technique or their insane speed, but he does his job focusing more on how to build a coherent lead and solos that stand out for sounding beautiful and harmonized. Managing, this way, how to bring out the most beautiful side in a completely grim genre, showing how the intelligent use of resources is more valuable than being technically good but without soul or passion.

But overall the band's work is masterful, especially when it comes to transmitting a musical energy with medieval influences that give the atmosphere a dark fantasy aura that is maintained throughout the entire long play. The compositions are incredibly well crafted and there is not a single aspect that seems to be lacking or overdone. It's not that it's full of lots of distinctive elements, as I said it's a pretty simple album in that sense, but the few that it does use, it executes them to perfection.

Legends of Evil and Eternal Death is one of those albums that makes me feel happy for trying to discover more obscure bands, because once in a while you will have the chance to find one of these gems lost in time, then your life won't be the same because you won't know how you could walk through the world for years without having met Hirilorn before.