Of Legends - Stranded

Rating

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RIYL

Bury Your Dead
Emmure
Liferuiner
The Acacia Strain

Release Date

03/21/2011

Label

Season of Mist

Tracklist

1. Nothing Matters
2. Death Eyes
3. Off Guard
4. Save the Humans
5. We Wish Death
6. False God
7. Carpe Noctum
8. Cannibal King
9. Consecro
10. The Last Leader

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3 ratings

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Recent Ratings

Who the fuck is Of Legends? Some guy who was once The Secret Handshake? That's what I found myself asking when I first read the bio for this band. The Secret Handshake was a solo effort from Luis Dubuc filled with enough electronic noises to make you puke. Prepare to forget what you know about his previous band and open your ears to a new and very promising direction for Dubuc.

Of Legends is essentially all Dubuc, albeit with a little help from Travis Orbin of the band Periphery on drums. It is also worth noting that Zack Ordway from Sky Eats Airplane helped with guitar. Honestly I couldn't care less who is really in his band and the name drops are purely for those familiar with aforementioned bands. What is important is that Of Legends album Stranded is solid release, although it is treading on ground many have gone over before him, but it is interesting to see it from the perspective of an artist trying to reinvent himself.

From your first listen of Stranded, you'll notice that it has a very raw and almost unfinished feeling to it. For my tastes it doesn’t really deter from the overall sound but also doesn’t really create any stand out tracks; it all kind of blends together. There were moments where I thought, "Oh that was a cool idea, but it only lasted for a fleeting second." Dubuc’s vocals are strong, yet could benefit from a bit more range; throughout each song, the flow of his lyrics remains the same. Instrumentation wise the album is solid, and it is quite obvious they can play their instruments. There are subtle electronic pieces strewn throughout the album, such as on “Save The Humans,” for example. These moments are interesting the few times they are implemented, but they are nothing too special and don't actually add much to the songs.

You can tell that the talent is there but not quite being fully utilized. It could be because the album was written solely by Dubuc and the same themes run throughout. Conceptually and musically it seems that these songs were put to tape pretty fast which kind of creates one long, undifferentiated idea--each song feels like an extension of the last. In some cases this sort of idea works great, but I feel for this band to expand and grow this will need to change. I look forward to hearing what else Dubuc can come up with down the road.

--Corey Mack

Author

pantsmeetshit
Last updated: 03/17/2011 08:59AM

Comments

Zach Roth
03/17/2011
07:53AM
Age: 24
Location
Fishers, Indiana

You've inspired me to check this out with one sentence. "What is important is that Of Legends album Stranded is solid release, although it is treading on ground many have gone over before him, but it is interesting to see it from the perspective of an artist trying to reinvent himself." What a good point. Sold.

Also, loving the album art. Watercolor is so underutilized anymore, even if you can recreate it in Photoshop anyway.

edit: Alsoalso, it's couldn't* care less. :D

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