Legion

With only eight songs that finish in a total span of less than 30 minutes, Deicide’s sophomore album, Legion, is impressively but deceptively concise. Though it may be compact, this album is the most musically demanding statement of the band’s career. Its songs contain so many rhythmic shifts that the group members later admitted it was nearly impossible to recreate any of the songs in concert (except for “Dead but Dreaming,” which became a staple of their live set). While technically overwhelming, the music doesn’t feel the least bit distant. The most suitable word is “bracing”: the songs enter your being and thrash it around from the inside. While Legion contains a wide arsenal of rhythmic attacks, the album is at its best when the band are cruising along on the thrumming, militaristic double-bass work of drummer Steve Asheim. “Holy Deception” and “In Hell I Burn” give you the feeling of being hoisted on the shoulders of an immense pillaging army as it rolls across borders in all-consuming thirst for total conquest.