Infernal Legion
Your Prayers Mean Nothing

September 2005
Released: 2005, Moribund Cult
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Gabriel C. Zolman

From the slow, churning madness of the instrumental opening, you know Infernal Legion will deliver. The only question will remain, “To what extent?”

The guitarwork is immediately enviable—especially the rhythm. Their bass player is excellent. The only noticeable weakness is in the drum sounds. The drummer doesn’t blow, but the bass drum is simply buried like a thousand popes beneath the mix. If it weren’t for the incessant clanging of the symbols, you’d never know that the kit was not a loosely duct-taped mass of sawed-off bongos.

Otherwise, this rules. The vocalist bears a hint of a resemblance to Immolation’s Ross Dolan; but unlike other Immolation-influenced bands (Insidious Descrepancy, for instance), this has immediate character. It is hardly a clone release. In fact, dare I say it, but this may easily tie with Drawn & Quartered as the best Old School Death Metal act currently on Moribund.

But damn guys…do something about that mix!

Otherwise: The less-than-subtle title track is a feat of morbid genius. The riffs are simply massive, and if this were 1993, SOD Magazine would have given the lead riff alone Ten Fucking Skulls. Hell, I still might.

“Forest Of The Diseased” is great, and totally evil—it’s a lazy sort of evil, though. Make some coffee. The vaguely European harmonies that creep through about midway through are both an anomaly and a blessing. The vocals change up nicely. I’m vaguely reminded of D&Q once more, but this hardly a bad thing. The only bad thing here is the mix; but like much of this album, the music itself is good enough to merit ignoring the shitty production.

“Inverted Crucifix” has almost a Bolt-Thrower sort of groove to it. Again, this band is not color-by-numbers Death Metal. And besides…we all know that Death Metal fans only use black crayons, anyway.

This is yet another coup for the ever-improving Moribund stable; it’s worth procuring for fans of mid-paced, sinister Satanic Death. Fans of Drawn & Quartered, Incantation, and Immolation will adore this. I predict this will only improve—production was the only hurdle here. (Were it not for the production, this would easily have gotten a 4 out of 5). I’d say pray for a bigger budget next time, but, well…maybe prayer is not the answer here, eh?