Laney’s Legion
Laney’s Legion
Perris Records
2014
I have always considered Sweden as a country exporting good music in the hard rock and heavy metal genres. For several decades great bands and great music have made their mark and there is no shortage of new acts popping up from the lands of Vasby and beyond, seemingly! This month, Laney’s Legion are making their appearance with their eponymous album which is a little gem of melodic hard rock. This is the band of singer Chris Laney (Zan Clan, Randy Piper’s Animal), who clearly saw that both his personal albums which released in 2009 and 2010 received no special recognition, so he decided to put up a full band and move into commercial paths and this is why he hired his friend and guitar hero Rob Marcello (Danger Danger, Marcello/Vestry, solo), bassist Mats Vassfjord (Grand Design, Impera) and the drummer Patrik Jansson (Helsingland Underground). This company of musicians worked for a long time on their tracks and the upcoming result is just so good.
On this record, we find 11 modern hard rock songs that deserve detailed commentary.
Staring off with “On and On”. It is a strong composition, which as a listener, is something that I always want to hear at the beginning of a hard rock albums. A compact riff, melodic vocals which at the bridge and chorus are getting double tracked and of course the guitar solo just blazes. Nice start and a track that will star at their live performances.
We continue with “Taste of Your Tongue” that has a structure that literally resembles Rob Zombie’s “Dragula”, except for the chorus which is very commercial-melodic. I can say that I liked it quite a bit and I think that it is inside the whole atmosphere of the album with its very rhythmical vibe and bizarre break down.
“Poptastic” constitutes the track that was chosen for a video to promote their debut. It’s a very commercial song with an incredible chorus and I think it was a great move to choose it as a showcase to get the first contact with the fans of the band as it’s possibly the most accessible song on the album.
Next is “Beneath the Surface” (what a commonplace title), a darker composition with a heavier sound and filtered vocals in some parts. It will remind you of several things from the 90s era, but I think that it could have be written a little differently.
“Bleed Within” is a balladesque song that reminded me a lot of Skid Row’s “I Remember You” because of Laney’s vocals. It is a quite nice and attentive song, having a few country references.
The following “Let’s Get it On” is at the same high standards of this year’s outstanding music effort of Edguy. Choruses (except the guitar parts) are the band’s stronger point and are making their appearance here. I was quite happy to listen to this song.
“Hollow” is a very good track based also on a strong chorus and I think it rests well on the term “hard rock”. Nice structure, without a compositional excesses.
“Lady Luck” is a composition written for making the audience of a live performance go jumping up and down. Beautiful orchestration, draped in a modern feeling and featuring a nice groove.
“Assassin of Our Love” in my opinion is destined to be the highlight of the record and reminds me the best moments of Rob Marcello’s solo work back in 2008 with Frank Vestry on vocals. I’m sure that you will listen to it several times before you go further (I’ve already done that about 20 times and I’m really stuck with it).
Similarly, “No One Can Stop Us” belongs to that Marcello’s music era. Admittedly one of the best tracks of the disc. Amazing chorus here too, as on the whole disc as well.
At the end of this musical journey we have to deal with “Legion” that in my mind brought immediately Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Voodoo” because of Marcello’s neoclassical solo who really gives a guitar recital with his elusive technical training.
Laney’s Legion left me a very good impression with their first release. All of them are good musicians (although I can’t hide that in every song I was waiting for Rob Marcello’s solo, as a big fan), the compositions are quite solid and well-written, with bridges and choruses that can’t hide their talent and everything is presented perfectly thanks to the excellent production values. I believe that the record will not pass unnoticed by the hard rock fans who want to hear quality stuff and I also believe that Chris Laney will succeed more things than in the past with this effort. I wish that if a sequel (is gonna take place in the future) to be proportional to this great debut. Thumbs up!
On this record, we find 11 modern hard rock songs that deserve detailed commentary.
Staring off with “On and On”. It is a strong composition, which as a listener, is something that I always want to hear at the beginning of a hard rock albums. A compact riff, melodic vocals which at the bridge and chorus are getting double tracked and of course the guitar solo just blazes. Nice start and a track that will star at their live performances.
We continue with “Taste of Your Tongue” that has a structure that literally resembles Rob Zombie’s “Dragula”, except for the chorus which is very commercial-melodic. I can say that I liked it quite a bit and I think that it is inside the whole atmosphere of the album with its very rhythmical vibe and bizarre break down.
“Poptastic” constitutes the track that was chosen for a video to promote their debut. It’s a very commercial song with an incredible chorus and I think it was a great move to choose it as a showcase to get the first contact with the fans of the band as it’s possibly the most accessible song on the album.
Next is “Beneath the Surface” (what a commonplace title), a darker composition with a heavier sound and filtered vocals in some parts. It will remind you of several things from the 90s era, but I think that it could have be written a little differently.
“Bleed Within” is a balladesque song that reminded me a lot of Skid Row’s “I Remember You” because of Laney’s vocals. It is a quite nice and attentive song, having a few country references.
The following “Let’s Get it On” is at the same high standards of this year’s outstanding music effort of Edguy. Choruses (except the guitar parts) are the band’s stronger point and are making their appearance here. I was quite happy to listen to this song.
“Hollow” is a very good track based also on a strong chorus and I think it rests well on the term “hard rock”. Nice structure, without a compositional excesses.
“Lady Luck” is a composition written for making the audience of a live performance go jumping up and down. Beautiful orchestration, draped in a modern feeling and featuring a nice groove.
“Assassin of Our Love” in my opinion is destined to be the highlight of the record and reminds me the best moments of Rob Marcello’s solo work back in 2008 with Frank Vestry on vocals. I’m sure that you will listen to it several times before you go further (I’ve already done that about 20 times and I’m really stuck with it).
Similarly, “No One Can Stop Us” belongs to that Marcello’s music era. Admittedly one of the best tracks of the disc. Amazing chorus here too, as on the whole disc as well.
At the end of this musical journey we have to deal with “Legion” that in my mind brought immediately Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Voodoo” because of Marcello’s neoclassical solo who really gives a guitar recital with his elusive technical training.
Laney’s Legion left me a very good impression with their first release. All of them are good musicians (although I can’t hide that in every song I was waiting for Rob Marcello’s solo, as a big fan), the compositions are quite solid and well-written, with bridges and choruses that can’t hide their talent and everything is presented perfectly thanks to the excellent production values. I believe that the record will not pass unnoticed by the hard rock fans who want to hear quality stuff and I also believe that Chris Laney will succeed more things than in the past with this effort. I wish that if a sequel (is gonna take place in the future) to be proportional to this great debut. Thumbs up!