RITUAL ECHO

UK act LEGEND was formed back in 1988 by keyboardist Steve Paine, and for the next decade the band experienced quite a few ups and downs, with licensing of their debut album to a Japanese label and good sales there as the arguably peak experience, while the struggles of keeping a stable lineup in general and rhythm section in particular among the more challenging parts. Legend released three full-length albums in the nineties, but decided to go on a hiatus when their label folded at the very end of the decade. Ten years later Paine revived the band, with the compilation "Ritual Echo" from December 2009 as the first sign of life for a good number of years.

While this anthology disc isn't quite up there among the best such efforts, it is a CD containing many fine songs, and the aforementioned Mordred in particular is something of a crown jewel metaphorically speaking. Neo fans are an obvious crowd for such a venture, although I suspect that those with a soft spot for sophisticated melodic hard rock might also be charmed by this act. A nice enough production in general, with a handful or so stand-out efforts fans of the genre should appreciate.