Legend's eponymous first album sticks closely to the
Black Sabbath blueprint, offering seven songs filled with grinding rhythms, primal riffs, and demonic subject matter. A self-financed, independently released affair, the album's rough recording values and poor overall mix leave a lot to be desired -- even by New Wave of British Heavy Metal standards -- but the band's precise execution and boundless enthusiasm mostly make up for these shortcomings. In fact, while "Hiroshima" borrows heavily from
Sabbath's "The Wizard," one has to wonder whether the bludgeoning heaviness of "Buried Alive" didn't influence fellow NWOBHM stars
Venom's first few albums. With its complex arrangements, "Negligence" is another highlight which hints at what the band was capable of, and would indeed deliver with their second effort,
Death in the Nursery. [Fallout's 2008 edition included bonus tracks.]