All for Metal are one of those bands you almost don’t need to review. They are what they are and they don’t care. That’s ace, and that’s all you can say about ‘Legends,’ except for the fact that you can’t not enjoy AFM if you love power metal.
And that word ‘power’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting in truth. This is the sort of metal that you either love or hate. The sort that looks at the idea of ‘minimalism’ and burns it to the ground.
And they do it differently too. All for Metal has two singers, Tim ‘Tetzel’ Schmidt (known as the singer of Asenblut as well as a strength athlete and fitness influencer) and Antonio Calanna (singer of the hard rock band DeVicious), and that’s the center of their dynamic.
Opener ‘All for Metal,’ is your signpost. If you are swords up, loincloths on. Let’s fucking do this, then welcome. The solos screech, the hooks are gargantuan. ‘Goddess Of War,’ the power metal fans’ power metal band. The two vocalists’ approach works, and as tempting as it is to laugh at ‘Born At Valhalla,’ it’s exquisitely done. By the time ‘Rise Your Hammer’ kicks in, it’s simply a case of raising fists, praising Thor, and joining in, to be honest with you. ‘Hear The Drum’ is basically a marching army (for metal, obviously). ‘Run’ has a Euro metal air, and why not?! Sabaton without the WW2, if you will.
‘Prophecy Of Hope,’ is a spoken piece, something or other about Seventh Son, but hey, I’ve seen Maiden twice this week. Something about the band saving the world. Whatever it leads into ‘Mountain Of Power’ and is a lot of fun.
You probably don’t need me to explain what ‘Fury Of The Gods’ sounds like, let’s be real about this, while ‘The Day Of Hammerfall’ is more OTT than the band named that – which takes some doing, really.
But as it ends, “Legends Never Die’ is a huge power ballad, (of course it is) but a touching one.
Look, the fact is you’re going to have extreme reactions to this. There won’t be any in-between. You’ll either quit your job to follow them around the world, or detest it. That’s cool, the world still turns either way.
Those of us that love it will glory in the fact that ‘Legends’ is the best album of its type in years.
Legends are born
Rating: 9.5/10
