LEGEND PART II

This is Part II of the Legend. Part I was released in 1997 and here they are continuing the story inspired by the bible and the forthcoming apocalypse. The story is accompanied by progressive metal with influences from ambient, Goth and opera music. They are sometimes reminiscent to SAVATAGE but not as much metal.

The CD case is following the same concept as on "Part I". It's all black with the band name, the title of the album and the songs printed in green and silver direct on the plastic. The 20- page CD booklet contains all of the lyrics and it helps you to follow the story.

If you liked "Legend Part I" this is a must. And you can also look forward to "Legend Part III" that they are planning for a 1999 release. I still think that "Legend Part I" am the album to buy or the first time listener.

This is the second installment of the Legend series, which details the events of the apocalypse as foretold in the Bible. Saviour Machine gets more and more advanced and pompous with each release I hear. Legend II was definitely their most technical album to date, with more atmosphere and energy than the best movie soundtrack can manage.

Eric Clayton, the singer/composer even dubbed the Legend series as the "Unofficial Soundtrack to the End of the World". This installment sounds very soundtrack-like too. The drums are more "supressed", with the strings and orchestration more up front this time. It makes for a very interesting and fitting concept, given this album's apocalyptic content.

Saviour Machine is one of the few projects/bands left that I think actually writes music. They don't come up with some riffs and play around until they get a platinum song. They don't steal other musicians' jams and twist them up for their own. They actually write music and compose it the old-fashioned way, as real musicians should do, in my opinion. You can definitely hear the difference on this album too, between composing and "pretending" artists.

There are so many instruments on this album I can't keep track. Guitars, bass, drums, choir, piano/keyboard, violin, cello, and probably tons more fill up this release with some fantastic arrangements and epic melodies. The song "The Whore Of Babylon" has a very Egyptian sound to it, while "Behold A Pale Horse" is an odd blend of classical music and rock. Legend II has the best variety between tracks I've ever heard. The 10 minute long masterpiece "The Promise" has some incredible parts in it also as it takes you on a musical journey. The closing song "War In Heaven - The Second Fall" is an excellent gothic/symphonic piece that ends the album.

If you're looking for real music to escape the monotony of rock and metal, look no more. Saviour Machine has elements of so many styles, and its great to hear something different and creative every once in a while. I would recommend this to everyone. This is usually the most popular Saviour Machine album in America, and I would think anyone who can appreciate the talents of well composed music should love Legend II.

Synopsis: "Legend II" is definitely NOT for everyone, but is a unique musical experience, that is very worth to make, even if you're not religious. Saviour Machine is already a legend in christian music circles and remain as the leading force of the White Metal genre. Even "Legend II" hasn't much in league with metal anymore, but the musicianal progress from a progressive goth metal band to a more pompous, operatic gothic rock act already started with their second album "Saviour Machine II". Personally, I prefer the more song-oriented first two albums by the band, specially Saviour Machine I shows the more rock/metal-biased side of the band. But as a concept album, Saviour Machine created a truely rare and phenomenal musical masterpiece with "Legend II", that shouldn't be overlooked. Because I must stay as much objective as possible, 8 points and 4 stars must be enough for a recommendation for you folks. Since you need the special "acquired taste" to truely appreciate the music of this band and specially the complex Legend Triology.

rating: 8/10 points = 82 % on MPV scale = 4/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

Legend Part II is the 4th full-length studio album by American progressive/ dark metal act Saviour Machine. It´s the second ( as the title says) album in the Legend series which lyrically is based on The Book of the Revelation of John. A dark concept well suited for dark music.

The music on Legend Part II is unmistakably the sound of Saviour Machine. The commanding and emotional operatic baritone vocals of Eric Clayton are as always the center of attention, while the basic instrumentation of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards are boasted by extensive use of both choirs and orchestration to create a grand epic sound. This is the band´s most epic and symphonic effort. Saviour Machine is not your usual progressive metal act by any means. You´ll find no impossible to play solos, technical playing or other progressive metal clichés on Legend Part II and Eric Clayton isn´t your usual high pitched metal singer either. The man posseses one of the most unique voices in the progressive metal genre and is actually closer in the sound to David Bowie or Andrew Eldritch than he is to James Labrie or Ray Alder. The music is mostly slow to mid-paced and contains layers upon layers of instruments and overdubbed vocals. A very hard soundscape to penetrate and appreciate when initially listening to the album.

The music can be dark and gloomy with Eric Clayton reciting bible passages but also grand and epic with Eric Clayton singing in his tortured emotional style. The music can seem repetitive and the songs too much alike and I have to admit that I find this a very hard album to get through even though it´s quite fantastic when I´m in the mood. 79:25 minutes of music is very long for an album and maybe a bit too long in this case, but on the other hand I greatly appreciate songs like The Whore of Babylon, Behold A Pale Horse ( which is the most accessible song on an otherwise extremely inaccessible album) and the 10:35 minute long The Promise. This is of course one long concept and all songs seque into each other to form one long epic story. One thing is for sure. Legend Part II is the kind of album that takes much patience to appreciate. I´ve listened to this album for a couple of years now and I still only feel like I´ve scraped the surface. All those layers of incredibly well composed music just leaves me breathless and exhausted every time.

The production is professional and suits the music well. Personally I would have preferred if the guitars were a bit louder in the mix because sometimes they drown in the many layers of keyboards, choirs and orchestration.

Legend Part II is an excellent album by Saviour Machine which grows on me every time I listen to it, but for newcommers to the band this might be a pill too big to swallow and I would strongly recommend starting with the self-titled debut full-length album if you´re interested in a dark and unique take on progressive metal. Legend Part II gets a 4 star rating from me.