Once Switzerland was a place where legends formed, with Hellhammer - and subsequently Celtic Frost and Triptykon - being the reigning kings of metal there. Recently the country of Switzerland has begun stirring anew with the miasmic sounds of Bölzer resounding through proverbial catacombs. But enough talk of Switzerland's exports of metal - Everybody knows, or at the very least should know of, bands like Samael and Coroner. Let us instead deal with the Swiss underground, Forsaken Legion in particular.
Forsaken Legion formed in 2012 and released their first album in december that same year. Though their sites and profiles are tagged as black metal, there's a bit more to it than that. Tracks like Crow has a definite thrashy edge, while something like Human Decay - like you may have guessed - has a strong death metal influence. These variations lend great strength to the music found on Seeds of Black Dawn. Forsaken Legion refuse to conform to the standard practices of the genre, and while they may not be wholeheartedly legend-material their debut album makes promises of great things yet to come.
There's no use shoehorning the quintet into genre conventions. It's not that there is anything new and exciting about the way they mix extreme metal genres, but they are entirely their own, doing exactly what they please. The songs are built on a strong foundation of blackened metal, empowered by thrashing riffs, blast beats and death-like growls, a few creeping melodies lurking in the background.
While the drums are executed at profound speeds and with a fair bit of force, they could be utilized better to underline the powerful rhythm section. The title track stands out as the best use of tempo changes and the "classic" black metal sound, bringing to mind bands like Dark Funeral and Marduk. All in all, though, without a more tight rhythm section and more attention to flow of songwriting, Seeds of Black Dawn falls through as a modern classic. It should be enjoyable to most fans of blasting black metal mixed up with a bit of the ol' death n' thrash combo, but apart from a few well-made compositions the album holds little merrit as anything but background noise. 6/10 guitars.
Tracklist:
1. Human Decay
2. Mountain's Massacre
3. Seeds of Black Dawn
4. Crow
5. Deserve to Die
6. Azathoth
7. Ambassador of Chaos
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Hail Satan!
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