(NEW RELEASE)

He Is Legend "It Hates You"


I was pretty skeptical when I heard that He Is Legend was making a new album. I enjoyed all of their releases, their EP and their two full-lengths, but they never seemed to completely pull it off. Their weak lyrics, inconsistant vocals, and annoying filler prevented their previous albums from being truly great. As much as I liked the EP and "I Am Hollywood" they both had that sort of ****ty scenecore vibe about them, and as much as I liked "Suck Out The Poison" the vocals were smokey, muffled, and occasionally annoying to listen to.

But this time they got it right. They nailed it. They found their sound.

While maintaining that sort of progressive quality that all of thier releases have featured, "It Hates You" manages to be a lot less scattered and more methodical than previous releases. While previous work felt somewhat rushed, "It Hates You" is carefully formulated and exacted. The first thing that struck me as different when the engaging opener, Dicephalous came on was Schuylar Croom's vocals. High pitched on the first two releases, muffled and worn out on Suck Out The Poison, here they are captivating and powerful.

Another bad trend that plagued their earlier releases was the often piss-poor, generic, trying-way-too-hard-to-make-words-rhyme songwriting. It stuck out like blood on a white shirt. I guess ol' Schuylar learned a lot in his three year absence. He still rhymes, but he certainly makes it work a hell of a lot better than he previously attempted to.

Alongside being lyrically and vocally stronger than their previous albums, "It Hates You" is the heaviest release from the band so far. This is evident from the first track, Dicephalous with its fast pace, thick instrumentation and commanding vocal delivery. It also feels like they stopped dicking around and made sure that their melodies deliver the hooks. However, it's not just twelve big hard rock songs, many slower interludes, introductions, and bluesy leads are heard throughout the course of the album to mix it all up and keep it interesting.

"It Hates You" is a definite contestant for my pick of Album Of The Year 2009. Out of everything I've heard so far, no one has surprised me more than He Is Legend. I guess I never knew that they had it in them to make an album so solid, catchy, and well planned out. I'm sure that a band will come along and top them before the year is done, but regardless: well done He Is Legend on creating your first masterpiece.

90%
Masterpiece