Legion of the Damned: Ravenous Plague

Ravenous Plague is the seventh album from thrash/death metal band Legion of the Damned (LotD) hailing from the Netherlands. If you’re surprised that you haven’t heard them before, don’t be. This is not a very well-known band although the band used to be called Occult though, which might ring a few bells.

The tricky thing about a band like this is that thrash music in general has pretty music covered every area it needs to, leaving very few stones left to be turned over and as a result most thrash bands that have come out over the past decade have just been trying to copycat each other’s sound and there’s been a huge pool of similarities. In 2013, we saw Skeletonwitch rise above this predicament with their formula for success, but few others in 2013-2014 can survive purely on a thrash label. We need more bands to try new things and push new boundaries because the strength of the songs created by these thrash bands don’t have the longevity of a Sodom or a Kreator.

That being said, I did enjoy the record when I first heard it. There are some great riffs in there and a few catchy moments to keep the listener entertained, but overall a bit monotonous. I still enjoyed it the second rotation, but I don’t know how often I’m going to come back to it when I get more new music. Now I’m not really one to care that much about mainstream popularity, but when you combine the years that the band has been active as both Occult and Legion of the Damned, that’s about 20 years. If this band still hasn’t really been able to crack any market in Europe or America, I don’t think this new album will be the one to do it. I’m admittedly not too familiar with their earlier work, but in 2014, I just don’t really see this band playing many shows or gaining any more success than they’ve already gotten prior to this album cycle. That’s an unfortunate reality for many bands (especially thrash bands) these days.

Ravenous Plagues will be released via Napalm Records.

Luke Helker