Review Summary: This Legacy is Going Through a Bit of a Rough Patch Right Now
It’s been seven years since Satan’s Host released the Pre-Dating God duology in 2015, but their eleventh album is another iteration of the blackened power metal formula that has been perpetuated since 2011’s By the Hands of the Devil. The declarative This Legacy Will Never Die features all the tropes one would expect with a slew of molten riffs, blasting drums, and diabolical trade-offs between clean wails and growls. Unfortunately, the album also comes with some noticeable baggage compared to their 2010s efforts.
Right off the bat, the production and musicianship are severely lacking in power. The drums often feel underwhelming and distant in the mix, even when blasting away or putting some solid fills. The guitar also suffers, featuring a tone that feels rather muddled and playing that comes off sloppier than usual. Thankfully the vocals still push their usual theatrical dynamics but seem to have less conviction when the rest of the band doesn’t match them. It could perhaps be argued that this was an aim toward the more lo-fi presentation of 1986’s Metal from Hell, but it doesn’t quite pan out.
Unfortunately, these factors adversely affect the songwriting. With Satan’s Host structures generally favoring a labyrinthine approach with an array of twists and turns, the lesser execution results in less clarity, making for incoherently interchangeable layouts and a jumbled sense of rhythm during the more extreme moments. This is especially apparent during the first couple songs as “Deadmans Walk” is robbed of the fire needed to really kick things off and “Minuet ~ Vampyre En Amor” comes out sounding cluttered.
At least there are still some bright moments on here and the album is at its best when it aims for more straightforward melodicism. “Shadow’s Blood” and “Altars in Hell” show signs of promise, but the title track is the biggest standout thanks to it offering the most direct hooks. “Warcry” and the closing “Mysticum” also turn out decent, the former applying a more mid-tempo sort of menace and the latter featuring a solid epic buildup that makes its nine-minute length palatable.
Considering how innovative the run of Satan’s Host albums was in the 2010s, especially for such a long-running band, it’s unfortunate to see them falter with This Legacy Will Never Die. The production severely bogs down the experience but even when one can look past it, the songwriting just isn’t as memorable or climactic as something like 2013’s Virgin Sails. There’s still enough of the band’s occult identity to resonate with their diehard legions and it isn’t god-awful (Satan-awful?) by any means. I just hope their legacy have a bit more conviction behind it next time around.
