Album Review: Of Legends - 'Stranded'

What Luis Dubuc, the man behind The Secret Handshake does in his spare time is of a lot more interest to me than when he's playing with The Secret Handshake. It has been recently anyway, since his spare time has been encapsulated by his new technical death metal side-project, Of Legends.

In a complete musical backflip for Luis, Of Legends replaces catchy electropop with gritty, aggravated vocals, bass-heavy riffs, polyrhythmic intelligence and brilliantly executed breakdowns. With ex-Periphery drummer Travis Orbin and Sky Eats Airplane guitarist Zack Ordway as his chief collaborators, it's little wonder that the project sounds so good.

Everything you need to know about the band's style is contained in the album opener, "Nothing Matters." It's very raw, almost as if it was recorded live in a garage. It also uses repetition and variation very effectively, while songs use repeated elements, enough is changed each time to keep the song feeling fresh from start to finish.

At an average song length of around at 2mins 30secs (save for "We Wish Death", an epic 9 minute adventure at the albums midpoint), this album lays little to waste and delivers raw power from start to finish. Taking clear inspiration from bands like Meshuggah and Dillinger Escape Plan, and adding breakdowns that put most of the frontrunners in metalcore to shame, Of Legends are a crazy fusion band that should bring in metal fans of all different preferred styles.

I wouldnt say any of the tracks on the album were particularly weak, but there are also obvious standouts, with "Nothing Matters", "Consecro" and first released single "Save The Humans" taking the cake in my opinion. "Consecro" in particular impresses me, making good use of overtones and providing a killer instrumental showcase.

"Stranded" is an killer metal release, and hopefully one that sees Of Legends gain much more success than The Secret Handshake ever did. They're a lot better.

Of Legends serve up one of the most innovative releases of the year with their debut album. 'Stranded' hosts a crazy fusion of polyrhythms, meaty grooves, blast-beats and breakdowns. The band take obvious cues from bands like Meshuggah and The Dillinger Escape Plan, but apply their own twist effectively. Although coming from a somewhat 'all-star' lineup, the band should gain more than enough merit based the album's musical content to see them hit the world touring circuit and gain a steady reputation, especially if they can adequately convey the intensity of the album in a live setting.

1. Nothing Matters
2. Death Eyes
3. Off Guard
4. Save the Humans
5. We Wish Death
6. False God
7. Carpe Noctum
8. Cannibal King
9. Consecro
10. The Last Leader