{"id":46343,"date":"2014-10-24T06:39:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-24T11:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=46343"},"modified":"2014-10-24T06:39:32","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T11:39:32","slug":"legion-tempest-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/legion-tempest-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Legion | Tempest<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Joe Mis<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"legionThe busiest man in metal music strikes again. Phil Vincent’s full band, Legion, returns with a very solid release \u2013 their sixth CD – entitled Tempest<\/em>. Phil seems to have a truly bottomless pit of inspiration, as despite prodigious output as a solo artist and member of Legion, Tragik, and D’Ercole his music never seems stale or repetitious.<\/p>\n

Legion is arguably Phil Vincent’s strongest venue, as he has built a truly solid band around his songwriting. In its current incarnation Phil handles lead vocals, Vince O’Regan (Bob Catley) shines on guitar, Gavin Cooper (Paul Di’Anno) delivers bass, veteran Andy Pierce provides drums, and Irvin Parrat handles the keys. The guys in the band know each other well and perform as a true unit. Musically they deliver edgy yet melodic metal in the Dokken\/Winger vein, although with many modern touches and flourishes. Tempest<\/em> is the richest and most varied Legion release to date \u2013 one the band can be proud of.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the album opens with a long chunk of TV and radio soundbites, and while the material is relevant to the theme of \u201cJust Can’t Stop\u201d it just runs on for way too long before the real music kicks in. Once the track gets going, it features Phil’s strong vocals over really sharp guitar riffs from Vince O’Regan. O’Regan delivers a smooth, bluesy groove and some guitar hero breaks on the mid-tempo rocker \u201cOpen Fire\u201d. \u201cSteal The Night Away\u201d is a very Dokken-esque track with tons of grit and growl, and a great drum line courtesy of Andy Pierce. \u201cMore Than Meets The Eye\u201d has a bit of a Winger feel to it thanks to Irv Parrat’s well-positioned keyboards, while the crisp, clean guitar work in \u201cAltered State\u201d is simply stellar. \u201cWalking In Your Footsteps\u201d is a very progressive sounding track with heavy keys and multi-layered vocals \u2013 something a bit different from the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo Or Die\u201d definitely has a George Lynch \/ Dokken vibe to it, and this high-energy track delivers the metal on all fronts. O’Regan proves himself to be a guitar monster here. \u201cPiece Of My Heart\u201d is a commercial rocker with a bouncy bass line and a definite hair-metal feel. \u201cSacrifice\u201d has an epic feel to it harkens back to the late 70s or early 80s \u2013 Phil keeps his vocals in a tight range, but the guitars have a Jimmy Page tone throughout \u2013 at least until the lead break. Drums and bass carry \u201cCrash & Burn\u201d into up-tempo metal territory while the closer, \u201c(We Are) Legion,\u201d settles into a smooth blues-rock groove \u2013 a great rock anthem.<\/p>\n

Whether delivering hard and heavy or ballad, Legion never loses the melody \u2013 a Phil Vincent trademark. He tends to write music with gritty, heavier verses, but wraps them with upbeat and melodic, and in many cases sing-along choruses. With song styles ranging from arena rockers to ballads to blues rock to pure metal, Legion’s Tempest<\/em> is more of the same from Phil Vincent and friends \u2013 but that’s a good thing!<\/p>\n

Recommended for all fans of melodic metal!<\/p>\n

Genre: Melodic Metal, Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nPhil Vincent (vocals)
\nVince O’Regan (guitar)
\nGavin Cooper (bass)
\nAndy Pierce (drums)
\nIrvin Parrat (keyboards)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tJust Can’t Stop
\n2.\tOpen Fire
\n3.\tStealing The Night Away
\n4.\tMore Than Meets The Eye
\n5.\tAltered State
\n6.\tWalking In Your Footsteps
\n7.\tDo Or Die
\n8.\tPiece Of My Heart
\n9.\tMy Sacrifice
\n10.\tCrash & Burn
\n11.\t(We Are) Legion<\/p>\n

Label: Z Records<\/p>\n

Website: http:\/\/philvincentbands.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Joe Mis – Senior Columnist — The busiest man in metal music strikes again. Phil Vincent’s full band, Legion, returns with a very solid release \u2013 their sixth CD – entitled Tempest. Phil seems […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":46344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,1103,1936,3439,952,10149,10150],"class_list":{"0":"post-46343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-legion","11":"tag-melodic-metal","12":"tag-phil-vincent","13":"tag-tempest","14":"tag-z-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}