By Rob Kachluba
Fast becoming one of my fave thrash bands, Holland’s Legion Of The Damned have turn it up a notch with Descent Into Chaos, focusing on a more direct full frontal thrash assault. Using Peter Tagtgren as producer and mixer has helped LOTD get to the next level. Every instrument can be heard clearly but it still comes across heavy and tight.They loosen the strings a bit on the anti-Christian sentiment this time, going for more darker, violent themes. Titles like “Lord of the Flies” (based loosely on the same book), “Holy Blood, Holy War” and “Killzone” are just a few of the venom spilled violent topics. They also turned down the speed factor a tad and are writing more midpaced thrashers, almost getting a Metallica/Slayer vibe which guitarist Richard Ebisch had hinted at in recent interviews. Where LOTD excel is in the riff department. They write high quality riffs into their songwriting that deliver a wall of controlled chaos backed by a high energy rhythm section and the venom spewed vocals of Maurice Swinkles can still be clearly heard. Apparently they spent more time on this album than the rushed effort of Cult of the Dead and it shows in spades. They also traveled to Sweden as mentioned earlier to work with Peter Tagtgren and it looks like they came up with a winner. I have the cd/dvd version and as bonus they rework one of their classics with guest vocal spot by Peter Tagtren. If you want simple no nonsense thrash delivered in a frenzy high octane effort then you can do no wrong with Descent Into Chaos.
(Massacre Records)
