Ion Legacy

Ion Legacy is so far the latest album from Tyrant of Death's huge catalogue, although with a new release scheduled for late this year it does not appear to be the last despite the abnormally long gap between records. As usual the standard is incredibly high, though this time a little different from most of Alex Rise's previous releases under this moniker.

Saying this album lacks intensity would be flat-out wrong, as proven with rippers like 'Alloy Overdrive' and 'Hellspace' among others, but certainly a lot of this album is more laid-back than Nuclear Nanosecond and Ascendancy. The electronic elements seem to have taken a step forward for a lot of Ion Legacy, culminating in a handful of drum and bass songs infiltrating the industrial metal that Tyrant of Death usually delivers. Even those that still feature those trademark hammering, crunching riffs also include a techno-style bassline, particularly noticeable on 'Acheron' despite it being one of the more intense tracks on offer.

Along with the pounding bass the drumming is as usual among the highlights, even if there's less emphasis on blast-beats and more on rhythmic snare-based grooves. With so many changes of pace and the odd wacky time-signature thrown in for good measure it makes for a very impressive listen, even if the tuning is more electronic than perhaps you're used to.

The riffs mostly sit and drone in the background while the keyboards and drums do most of the heavy lifting. Occasionally there's a more melodic line that takes charge, but the massive presence that you find on Parasite is largely hiding away. It goes without saying, then, that this album is not geared towards metalheads. Unlike almost every other ToD album this doesn't sit firmly in the industrial metal camp and it certainly won't grind your bones to dust like most before it. This however does not make it a bad album, and in fact I enjoyed it from start to finish. It's a refreshing change of pace, and if anything it just shows the extent of Alex's abilities. I wouldn't say it's the strongest album in Tyrant of Death's library, but that would be an unfairly high standard to hold it to. The fact that it can compete with its siblings is as much quality control as you could hope for.