Band:	Die Hard
Album:	Conjure The Legions
Style:	Death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	September 2012

01. Conjure The Legions
02. Masters Of Deceit
03. Satanic Uprise
04. Thrash Them All
05. Cold Scythe
06. Sanctify The Morbid
07. Antichrist
08. Stand Up
09. Robe And Crown

Conjure The Legions has the look of an album that should kick your ass. The cover art is cool, the band logo is old-school and badass, and the song-titles are to-the-point and unpretentious. The same impression's made by the bands name-dropped/shown-via-t-shirt in the little press thingy that came with my download ( Venom, Motörhead, Sodom, etc.). Going into this I was expecting something more along the more blasé and fun lines of Deathhammer's new disc, not the beige bucket of gray papier-machet paste that, for the most part, this thing basically is.

It feels (doesn't always sound) like a hand reached out to the growing and re-organizing metalhead troops demanding Darkthrone/ Aura Noir-like speedy, old-school rawness with their metal, which made me immediately want to enjoy it. Ultimately, though, it's an example of a reckless-sounding, raw, riff-first kinda deal that just doesn't quite work. The musicianship frequently sounds flat and flavorless, and the production-qualities are too Cloroxy and boring. It's not the kind of album to keep a stomp in your step and beers in your hands.

That said, though, there are powerful moments strewn throughout. The more mid-paced, thrash-based riffing is pretty humdrum and tedious in the end, but there are chunks of more black n death-style stuff with more tremelos and blasts that sound fucking excellent, and there are a number of in-your-face-style solos guaranteed to keep fists clenched and elbows cocked. A good thing for a deathy thrash disc to have. It's just that the album is constantly teetering between sounding close-to-top-notch and boring as fuck.

The vocals are solid, the drummer is skilled, and the bass sounds great when you can hear it, but everything is brought down by the frequent meanderings into flaccid and heard-it-before riffing and songwriting here.

There's just not a lot here to keep anyone excited for very long. It should be fun enough for a quick spin or two, but don't expect it to keep you engaged and make you want to come back for more.