Legend I

Legend I is the first album in Saviour Machine's Legend series, which are concept albums telling the story of the Christian apocalypse. In Legend I, the world is just beginning its downward spiral, with the Antichrist arriving on the scene at the *end* of the album. As anyone who's read the "Left Behind" series knows, we have quite a ways to go before the believers reach eternal life. Now, I myself am not a Christian, but that is hardly relevant to the enjoyment of this album. Hell, like most metal, the lyrics themselves are of little real importance.

Don't expect to get your ass kicked by crushing riffs, blazing shred solos, or even guitars that go "chug chug chug." What you should expect, however, is an atmospheric, symphonic, and keyboard driven experience that feels quite classical. There are even choral endings on several songs. The opening track "Overture" is pretty much a keyboard solo piece, and the typical metal instruments don't even appear until near the end of "Legend I:I." Even then, the keyboard usually takes the lead. I'm not complaining though; the keyboard lead is excellent, whether it's blaring some symphonic line or acting as a more straightforward piano. Eric Clayton's vocals, as you might expect, are operatic, but Tarja Tururen, the usual suspect when operatic vocals are mentioned, is leagues behind Clayton. He's that good.

Of course, that doesn't make this a non-metal album. There are a couple of songs with moderately heavy guitar riffs, most notably "The Sword of Islam" and "The Invasion of Israel." These songs are bizarre beasts, though. The riff repeats endlessly through the songs, which are about six and a half minutes and five minutes respectively. Somehow, though, I never really notice it, since they're obscured behind the marching keyboards and Clayton's sonorous voice. One could even try to palm off "The Invasion of Israel" as mallcore--palming off being the important expression, since the "chug chug chug chug chug *drum*" riff thinly veils the keyboard, just like underwear covers enough to prevent one from being considered nude and not much more.

As for the lyrics, they're passable. The music itself is much better, but the lyrics are far from being crap. The album is obviously going to be a gigantic Biblical allusion, so I doubt anyone is going to do much better with this subject matter. Lyrics are often repeated a few times for effect; this review's title is based on one of those moments. There is but one gripe I have. In "Gog: Kings of the North" there is a line I dislike: "The spoil is oil." Even worse, it's a repeated line. It's not that big a deal, though. It's not as if Clayton does something like James LaBrie's infamous F#. As for my favorite? The repeated portion in "Ten: The Empire": "Thy kingdom come / Thy will be done / On earth..as it is..in hell."

If I had to pick a standout track, it would be "Gog: Kings of the North" despite oil's being the spoil. The piano intro in particular is excellent. If I could pick three, however, I would pick the three adjacent tracks "The Sword of Islam" with its Arabesque riff, the aforementioned "Gog: Kings of the North," and "The Invasion of Israel." If there's one track I'd have to skip, it would be "The Night"; it simply isn't as good as the other piano based songs.

The only real problem with Legend I is that it's quite long. There's no songs with overindulgent lengths here (the longest being "Gog" at over eight minutes) but there's so many tracks that it winds up being a seventy-odd minute epic. Add the other three Legend albums, and we have a musical experience of Biblical proportions in more than one way.

Don't let that deter you, however. If you like anything with classical influence, this album is enjoyable. If you want something extra heavy, don't waste your time.