Band: I, Legion
Album/Release Date: Pleiona (September 11, 2015)
From: Quebec, Canada
Genre: Metal, Metalcore, Hardcore
For Fans Of: Bullet For My Valentine, Scar Symmetry, Mutiny Within, In Flames
Top Tracks: Exhale, Hollow, Damage Done, Perfect Paradise
The sophomoric release by I Legion, Pleiona, has followed up their debut release Beyond Darkness in a hard hitting fashion. As an international collaboration created by Frederic Riverin, I Legion has amassed a metal superstar cast to carry out their innermost darkest desires, which from beginning to end does not disappoint. The album crafts hard hitting riffs and guttural vocal work to soaring vocals and creative, variated guitar solos. Many of the I Legion cast from Beyond Darkness have returned for Pleiona and play as pivotal a role in its sound.
The tone of the album is set immediately by the aggressive vocal work of Bjorn Strid (Soilwork) and Jon Howard (Threat Signal), melodic guitar work and a tight rhythmic section in the opening track Sirens. What follows in each subsequent song is a combination of technical, heavy riff based songwriting and emotive heartstring tugging ballad breaks in songs like the title track Pleiona. With the inclusion of vocal newcomers Viky Boyer on Hollow and Ashe O’Hara on Grieving For You, each song stands as a powerful piece on their own while adding a creative variance from track to track. The album excels at gripping the listener’s fascination from the through to the epic closer, Damage Done. Couple the variated vocalists, the hard hitting riffs and the emotive songwriting, Pleiona is further enhanced with the guitar shred-slinging from guest soloists Victor Salomonsen, Pascal Paco Jobin, Angel Vivaldi, Yiannis Papadopoulos, Matt Perrin, and Sebastian Reichl, all of who bring their own brand of musical creativity and fretboard wizardry to Pleiona.
From the production of I Legion’s sophomoric release to the piece’s compositional architecture, Pleiona joins the quintessential albums in modern metal from bands like Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium, and The Agonist. Fred and the rest of I Legion have created a work with Pleiona that continues to showcase stellar musicians, creative musicality and proves that rock and metal are not dead, but are very, very much alive and kicking.
Rating: 4/5
—
We also sat down with I Legion founder Fred Riverin for an interview, read here: Interview with I Legion’s Fred Riverin
—
Check out I Legion‘s latest release Pleiona here:
|| BandCamp // iTunes ||
Check out I Legion on social media:
|| FaceBook // YouTube ||
