Legacy of Brutality – Path of Forgotten Souls (2011)

Delivering 39 minutes of neck snapping Death Metal, today we have Legacy of Brutality and their debut full-length “Path of Forgotten Souls” out on Chief Records. Through the nine tracks presented in the release, we have chugging guitars, bestial drumming and nice hooks, making it one of the most straight forward and well crafted DM releases of 2011.

While everybody and their mother is out there playing your run of the mill cookie monster DM, Legacy of Brutality focuses on creating catchy tracks with meaty hooks and demonic vocals. The band excels in adding small touches of flair into their sound by relying on very technical guitar and bass guitar work and drumming, but never falling into the Obscura category for Technical DM.

The track “Death is Coming” immediately sets the mood for the release with a nicely paced riffing chugfest that reminds us of bands like Suffocation, Immolation, etc. The drumming is very nicely crafted and the vocals are very brutal, just the way DM vocals should be. Starting with a faster pace, even reaching Dissection-like worship, “Beyond the Walls of the Colosseum” keeps up the machinery going in terms of brutality and excellent execution.

“The Golden Age of Domination”, “Martyrchrist”, and “Path of Forgotten Souls” have a very traditional DM sound to them with a few extra elements that makes them appealing for your average listener. The keyboards/samples at the beginning of “Path of Forgotten Souls” give that eerie feeling of the movie “The Omen”, something very similar to what Canada’s Necronomicon does with their music. Our favorite track is “Rebirth of the Ancient Cult” and it’s tight drumming, very traditional sounding but with sick riffs and solos.

The band closes the album with the hectic “Memories at War”, where again the drumming shines due to an excellent production and very well balanced mix. In general we think that Legacy of Brutality has the makings of legendary DM bands like Immolation, Suffocation and Cannibal Corpse due to the high quality and extreme catchiness of their music. Graced with excellent execution, “Path of Forgotten Souls” is hands down one of the best DM releases of 2011.

Release: March 11th, 2011

Country: Spain