Review Summary: You will be scorned by iron. Marks will not fade. This is primitive yet experimental death metal at it's best.
So there’s this Japanese guy -M- who blasts Whitehouse, Darkthrone, Godflesh and all kind of unearthly racket unbearable for most people while preparing for work every morning. His wife endures the sonic mayhem and confides in a co worker one day, only to find out that her colleague also has a spouse that runs the same distortion filled filth through speakers.
-M- meets -R-. They go to shows, drink gallons of beer and begin to incantate an abomination that is Legion of Andromeda.
Since there wasn't something called industrial drone death metal there sure is now.
Calling Legion of Andromeda industrial is not far from truth, but the better term would be mechanical.
Imagine a gatling gun from WW I era supplied with tactical nukes for shells and you’ll have some idea about drums.
Primordial, minimalistic and utterly sadistic, not dropping a beat, not slowing down or speeding up during an entire song. Braindead as f**k double kick accompanied by cymbal encaptures the listener in a trance like state of consistent looping madness that gnaws sanity one brain cell at a time.
I must stress this again: there is no rhythm change on any of the songs whatsoever. Just aberrations where the cymbal hits more often or not and BPM induced tempo changes.
Vocals are earth shattering, rasp guttural growls distorted by -R-’s salvation as he literary stick the microphone in his mouth, salivate, mispronounces words gnawing on it and producing bestial roars that emanate disgust and hatred for fellow man. He is an unstoppable abomination mutated by cosmic rays, tearing through bulkheads on an derelict dreadnought yearning to suck the marrow straight from your shattered bones.
Resting from gnawing only to shriek, expelling mucus and maybe a few of it’s own vocal cords from sheer intensity of the slurpy scream.
Guitars are almost lifelike, organic and excellently balanced in the mix, oddly groovy, warm yet simplistic (like the rest of the setup) riffs being the main differentiating element in songs apart from vocals. Primitivism is pivot and the objective here.
As the members themselves say: torture through repetition.
It’s a fantastic way to reach other levels of consciousness.
No compromises have been made in any aspect of the record, there are no interludes, intros, outros, instrumental pieces, just the rawest possible portrayal of omnipresent hate.
The music is so powerful that one might feel an outwordly presence leaving as the last beat expires.
You will bow or roll your eyes and discharge your intestines in disgust.
There is nothing similar in extreme music and this album is a triumph over trends, it’s as accessible as harsh noise yet undoubtedly unforgettable. It would raise eyebrows if it was recorded in the ‘85 or in ‘05. I’m delighted beyond words.
The Andromeda constellation in colliding, thus devouring Milky way. Hear it’s emissaries.