IN REVIEW: He Is Legend - "few"

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It's hard work flying under the radar; for over a decade, He Is Legend have carved themselves a consistently interesting musical path, garnering accolades from the heavy music community while releasing adventurous, thrilling albums. Their previous, 2014's Heavy Fruit, felt like a culmination of all their desires and resulted in a high water mark for the band that would prove to be a tough act to follow. Still, with little promotional consideration thanks to their deal with tiny imprint Tragic Hero, they failed to see the proportionate financial return on their artistic investments.

So, in the wake of the conclusion of their record deal, He Is Legend decided to go to the source, launching a successful crowdfunding campaign for few; not only was it heartening to feel direct support from the fan level, He Is Legend also found themselves a distribution offer from Spinefarm (parent label Universal), so it certainly seems as though they're better equipped for a breakthrough than ever before.

Thankfully, the tunes on He Is Legend's fifth album are up to snuff. As on Heavy Fruit, few finds this talented group of rockers pulling their sound in several directions while maintaining an air of consistent heaviness and accessibility; lead off track Air Raid perfectly illustrates the balance that's struck between airy, layered rock and visceral, pummeling metal. Elsewhere, there are several reminders that, as hard as they may go (and this album does house some of the band's heaviest tunes), their gifts for melody and songwriting are what sets them apart; the haunting and slashing Beaufort, the crushing Alice In Chains tinged ballad Silent Gold, the flavourful and rapidly evolving Gold Dust, the dizzying and all-encompassing Eastern Locust and the manic blues freak-out Fritz the Dog see the band dig deep into their bag of tricks, incorporating a host of influences while twisting and molding the music to fit whatever the song calls for.

As wild and far-ranging as few is, the band has admittedly been wilder and ranged further; in this respect, the album as a whole comes off as more of a distillation than an evolution. That said, few winds up being a more cohesive record than what came before; for a band that has spent the duration of their career up to this point steadily moving forward, taking a moment to pause in their comfort zone (albeit a comfort zone that would be pretty damn uncomfortable for most bands) can be construed as a step back. This album is not that, rather a reiteration of their immense talent and a further reminder that He Is Legend are one of the most overlooked gems in heavy music.

April 28, 2017 • Spinefarm
Highlights Air Raid • Beaufort • Eastern Locust

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