You may or not be here looking to start the New Year with some good metal. And if you are, then you are definitely in the right place. Legion of the Damned has a good reputation of doing thrash/death metal the right way every time. I love listening to the other complex or melodic forms of metal just as much as the next guy, but sometimes you just want to listen to something heavy; something that gets your blood flowing and your air guitar shamelessly displayed. And if you’re itching for something like that, Ravenous Plague is exactly what you need.
This is definitely one heavy album. At its very core, it’s nothing but straight up fast-picking, headbanging, no artificial flavors, balls to the wall thrash metal. Legion of the Damned brings this sort of thunder with all of their albums and Ravenous Plague continues that trend flawlessly.
"Mountain Wolves Under a Crescent Moon"
You start out with a short little orchestral intro, which actually was a little unnecessary for a “non-melodic” metal band, but then clobbers you right back with “Howling for Armageddon”, and it does not stop from there. With a thrash band like LOTD, you have to expect fast picking riff after riff after riff, and of course the entire album is built upon them. It’s all that you want out of a thrash album, and essentially not much apart from that. But that’s what you want from LOTD: thrash/death done the right way in every track.
“Black Baron” is probably my favorite song on the album, and has what I think to be the most memorable riffs on Ravenous Plague. And the most melodic it gets is on “Summon All Hate”, yet it never gives up any of its fire. Make no mistake, Ravenous Plague is, simply put, heavy.
"Summon All Hate"
As I said before, after the intro track it doesn’t give you much of a break or a stopping point until it’s over. But when I say it doesn’t stop from there, I really mean it. And that’s where the flaws of Ravenous Plague come in. It’s one of those albums where you can skip to any song and jump to any point and it’ll probably sound like you’re in the same song. Not that it makes it bad or even easily dismissed, but it does put it just a little bit on the monotonous side. It’s definitely not a deal-breaker, but it can get a little exhausting. Luckily, “Summon All Hate” comes about midway through the album and breaks it up a little, but then gets right back into it.
And if you’re one to judge an album based on a band’s previously released discography, you’ll also see that Ravenous Plague is nothing new for LOTD. It's kinda just the same album that they’ve been releasing without treading much if any new ground. Does that lessen any of the awesome that Ravenous Plague brings? It shouldn’t, but it might for some. The bottom line is that the album, taken by itself, is heavy heavy heavy, and it’s consistently good at being heavy.
Ravenous Plague is not only an amazing album for Legion of the Damned, but perfect if you need something more heavy in your life. You’ll know, as soon as you listen to one track from the album that you’re in for one extreme ride with Ravenous Plague. This is simply one of the best and brutal ways you can start your New Years listening.
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